Audit of Medicines Reconciliation timings for General Surgery admissions

from Poster Group A - Full QI Project - BPSC2023

UHMB Cross-Bay VTE Audit 2022

Robert Hwang, Scott Crosbie, Marianne Gazet, Suzana Anjum, Charlotte Allan

Introduction

• Medicines reconciliation is the process of recording and prescribing patients’ regular medications upon a change in care setting such as hospital admission (1). NICE states that this should be completed within 24 hours of admission.

• Timely completion of medicines reconciliation allows the healthcare professional to continue the patient’s regular treatments while applying any modifications made necessary by the acute presentation, such as preventing any interactions with newly prescribed medications.

Aims

• To evaluate Royal London Hospital General Surgical department compliance with the NICE guideline of completion of medicines reconciliation within 24 hours of admission.

Methods

Intervention:

• Written correspondence to all members of the team emphasising medicines reconciliation

• Tickbox column added to handover sheet

• First cycle: Patients on the General Surgical take list between 05/12/22 and 18/12/22 (n=61).

• Exclusion: <18 years old, <24 hours admission.

Re audit:

• Performed using the same methodology between 20/02/23 and 03/02/23 (n= 46).

Results

• First-cycle : 62.3% meeting the target

• Second-cycle results: 74.0% meeting the target

• Overall improvement of 18.7%

Conclusion

• Visual reminders and increased awareness enhance the team’s ability to meet National targets for Medicines Reconciliations.

References & Acknowledgements

1) National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Medicines optimisation: the safe and effective use of medicines to enable the best possible outcomes. 4th March 2015.

2) World Health Organization (WHO). Standard Operating Protocol for Medication Reconciliation. Version 3. Many thanks to the Royal London Hospital General Surgery department for their support in this project.