MedRec To Go! Creating a Reliable Discharge Process is a Virtual Action Series designed to help acute care organizations in their efforts to improve medication safety by implementing or improving medication reconciliation at discharge. The second wave of this program will run from February to June 2012.
York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, Ontario participated in the first wave of this Virtual Action Series. They had been working on medication reconciliation for a few years with processes and reporting in place for obtaining a Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) on admission and completing admission reconciliation in several programs within the hospital including ER, medicine and surgery. “The logical next step was to look at a process for medication reconciliation at discharge,” says Uchenwa Genus, Manager of Pharmacy Services at York Central Hospital.
York Central formed a team, including the Chief Practice Officer and the Director of Quality, Risk and Patient Safety as co-Executive Sponsors; the Pharmacy Manager; a front-line pharmacist; the Professional Practice Leaders of Pharmacy and Nursing; the Medicine Nurse Manager; a Physician; and the Manager of Quality, Risk and Patient Safety to attend the MedRec To Go! five virtual sessions over four months. This team was part of a larger Medication Reconciliation Committee that included representatives from Information Technology to design electronic forms and processes, and Decision Support to establish a scorecard and populate/validate the data.
Genus says that implementing medication reconciliation during the discharge process is unique as it builds on work done at each previous transition point (admission, transfer), and therefore requires intricate collaboration from all members of the team to ensure its success. She notes that having a physician on the team provided a greater degree of influence at the front-line and helped ensure a smooth implementation.
“Implementing medication reconciliation can be resource intensive” says Genus. “The Virtual Action Series provided insight on developing a medication reconciliation process map in a collaborative way that was realistic and relevant. The information sharing, tips and learning opportunities gave us more confidence in what we were doing, and sharing our results with other teams provided the validation that we were on the right track. This program is beneficial to any healthcare institution interested in implementing medication reconciliation at discharge.”
The MedRec to Go! Creating a Reliable Discharge Process provides the tools, resources and ideas you need to get MedRec at discharge up and running in one unit with a plan for spread across your organization. It will help to develop internal and external partnerships with key team players in the MedRec at discharge process and renew your passion for medication reconciliation.
Space is limited; register today! The MedRec to Go! Creating a Reliable Discharge Process sessions begin on February 21, 2012. Click here to access a recent information call on the upcoming MedRec to Go Virtual Action Series.