Adverse drug events and medication errors are unfortunately all too common within hospitals, but hospitalists can now take the lead in preventing them using SHM’s MARQUIS [Multi-Center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study] toolkit.
The authors of the new toolkit outline the hospitalist’s role in reducing medication errors as:
- Take responsibility for the accuracy of the medication reconciliation process for each patient under your care;
- Lead, coordinate, or participate in medication reconciliation quality improvement (QI) efforts with other key team members on the “front lines” to inform the hospital QI team on key interventions that would lead to improved patient outcomes;
- Become trained in taking the “best possible medication history” and in using effective discharge medication counseling; and
- Identify patients who are at high risk for a medication reconciliation error and would benefit from a more intensive medication reconciliation process.
“The MARQUIS study is important because it shows the potential of a mentored implementation effort, working with local hospitalist leaders and a QI toolkit, to improve medication safety related to the medication reconciliation process,” says MARQUIS principal investigator Jeff Schnipper, MD, MPH, FHM.
“It also shows the importance of institutional commitment to the success of these efforts. Lastly, hospitalists need to realize that medication reconciliation is not just some external regulatory requirement—it’s about the safety of the medications they order—and, therefore, that they need to ensure the quality of the process for the patients they care for and to lead efforts to improve the process across their hospitals.”
For more information, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/marquis.
