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Gaps in continuity of medication management during the transition from hospital to residential care
— an observational study (MedGap Study) |
| Author(s) | Rohan A Elliott, Tim Tran, Simone E Taylor |
| Journal title | Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 31, no 4, December 2012 |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell, December 2012 |
| Pages | pp 247-254 |
| Source | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ajag |
| Keywords | In-patients ; Discharge [hospitals] ; Admission [care homes] ; Aftercare ; Drugs. |
| Annotation | The present study aimed to assess continuity of medication management during transition from hospital to residential care facilities (RCFs). Telephone interviews with RCF staff were performed 24 hours after patient transfer to determine the proportion of patients with: missed or significantly delayed doses; RCF medication chart not written/updated in time for the first dose; suitably packed medications not available for the first dose; and RCF medication chart written/updated by a locum doctor. Retrospective audit was used to identify discharge summary discrepancies. Results showed that 75 doses for 37 out of 202 (18.3%) patients were missed or significantly delayed in the 24 hours after discharge. 125 (61.9%) patients did not have their medication chart written/updated and 77 (38.1%) did not have suitably packed medications available for the first dose. Locum doctors wrote RCF medication charts for 66 (32.7%) patients. 197 out of 392 (50.3%) changes to regularly scheduled medications were communicated. These findings show that strategies are needed to address gaps in the continuity of medication management. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-130111205 A |
| Classmark | LF7: LD:QKJ: KW:QKH: LN: LLD |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |