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Posted By on 11/26/2019 in Category 1 

Pharmacists Serving as “Recon Agents” to Improve

Patient Safety

For medication-related problems, commonly referred to MRPs, pharmacists are becoming a valuable solution. In their role, pharmacists
can serve as recon agents in the fight to improve patient safety.

MRPs are putting patients at risk, especially those admitted into hospitals. Although admissions sta , doctors, and nurses do what they
can, pharmacists have a unique opportunity to perform medication reconciliation. By maintaining accurate records of drugs prescribed,
the outcome for patient safety improves dramatically.

Identifying the Problem

Pharmacists have a signi cant advantage over other healthcare professionals in that while lling prescriptions, they can correctly identify
more outpatient medications. While doctors and nurses focus on making accurate diagnoses and providing the right treatments,
pharmacists efficiently monitor a patient’s use of medication, especially in a hospital setting.

As part of their duties, pharmacists typically rely on a minimum of two sources when gathering data on medication history compiled by a
pharmacy database, which is vital considering that 38 percent of patients cannot provide complete information. By following the
medication reconciliation processes, pharmacists identi ed discrepancies in one of every ve drugs reviewed. That alone shows their roles
as recon agents in battling MRPs is critical.

Making Changes

The combination of pharmacist medication reconciliation and counseling at the time of discharge resulted in a 16 percent reduction in the
number of emergency room visits by older adults in high-risk categories and 30-day drug-related admissions.

Of 54 readmissions relating to drugs as part of suboptimal therapy, 83.3 percent received no pharmacist care at the time of their earlier
hospitalization. That statistic indicates that for lowering the cost of healthcare, it is imperative to reduce the number of emergency room
visits and hospital admissions.

With pharmacist counseling at the time of discharge, preventable adverse drug events, or ADEs, also declined. Of the patients who
received a medication review, 49 percent had at least one unexplained discrepancy between the drugs prescribed before getting admitted
and the time of discharge.

Overall, patients in a pharmacist care group had a substantially lower rate of preventable ADEs 30 days following their discharge. Included
in the errors that lead to preventable ADEs are discrepancies but also non-adherence to prescription medication orders and inappropriate
medication dosage.

Staying on Top of the Problem

To reduce the number of MRPs following discharge in an outpatient setting, the proper transition of care service is essential. Even with the
frequency of detected MRPs declining, pharmacists still saw an average of one to two MPRs in outpatient clinic care settings.

Two risk factors for MRPs include medications that require monitoring and the patient’s age. However, roughly 63 percent of MRPs were
the result of the patient not following the prescribed orders. For acute care settings, pharmacist intervention is crucial for improving the
patient’s outcome in both outpatient and inpatient settings.

Determining the Impact

When it comes to reducing the occurrences of hospital readmission, pharmacists play a critical role. Their experience coupled with
specialized training allows them to perform both medication reconciliation and counseling when patients get discharged from hospitals. As
recon agents, they help improve patient safety.

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