Development and Evaluation of an Hospital Pharmacy Generated Interim Residential Care Medication Administration Chart.

Background: An interim residential care medication administration chart (IRCMAC), usually handwritten by hospital medical officers, is provided by some hospitals to reduce the risk of medication administration delays and errors for patients discharged to residential care facilities (RCFs). Aim: To describe a novel method for IRCMAC preparation; and to determine the percentage of patients discharged from hospital to RCFs who received an IRCMAC, the accuracy of the IRCMAC, and the time IRCMAC preparation added to the pharmacy discharge process. Method: Software and processes were developed to enable integration of IRCMAC preparation into the pharmacy discharge process, with auto-population of the IRCMAC with patient, prescriber and medication data. The percentage of patients for whom RCF staff reported receiving an IRCMAC over a 3-month study period was determined by telephone interview 24 to 72 hours post-discharge. Accuracy was determined by retrospective comparison of a random sample of IRCMACs with pharmacist reviewed and reconciled discharge prescriptions to identify discrepancies. Time added to pharmacy discharge processes was recorded prospectively by pharmacy staff. Results: RCF staff reported receiving IRCMACs for 214/226 (95%) patients discharged to 84 RCFs. The medication discrepancy rate (excluding nutritional supplements) in 76 randomly selected IRCMACs was 9/877 (1%). The IRCMAC took a mean of 8.7 (SD 4.1) minutes to prepare. Conclusion: Accurate IRCMACs can be provided for a high percentage of patients discharged to RCFs by hospital pharmacists using a semi-automated process linked to dispensing software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]