The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7459 p14
7 July 2007

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Reducing errors on transfer between care settings

Medication error reduction and improvement in therapeutics

Pharmaceutical Care Awards

The Pharmaceutical Care Awards 2006 were presented at a celebratory dinner on 29 June 2007 at Apothecaries’ Hall, London. The dinner followed a conference at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s headquarters, where the finalists presented their projects to an audience of invited guests. The awards, organised by The Pharmaceutical Journal, are sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline and the Company Chemists’ Association

Providing patients with a booklet to record their medicine changes can reduce the incidence of errors when patients are transferred between care settings. This was the finding of a winning project designed by a team from County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust.

A total of 301 patients aged between 60 and 78 years old were recruited and 289 completed the study. Following assessment for their suitability the patients were given a pocket-sized booklet in which to record all their current medicines and any questions they had, and any allergies or problems with their medicines. They were asked to give the booklet to any health care professional they visited so that any changes in care could be recorded.

The booklet was developed by a multidisciplinary team to aid the co-ordination of care between all health care providers, not just between primary and secondary care. The booklet also contains numerical information on modifiable risk factors such as weight, blood pressure and cholesterol, motivating patients to take action to reduce these risks.

Quality of care was assessed by consultants at six and 12 months, and use of the booklet and patient compliance was assessed by the pharmacist.

Presenting the results of the project, Margaret Ledger-Scott explained that a total of 1,023 entries were made in the booklets over the 12-month period, and that patients were more active in their own disease management.

Use of the booklet reduced unintentional changes to patients’ medication regimens, and reduced hospital admissions by 71 per cent, indicating improved clinical outcomes. The consultants concluded that patients using the booklet had improved knowledge about their illness, had developed skills to help them manage their disease and were more compliant with treatment. All of these factors contributed to improving the therapeutic outcome for the patient.