Researchers and pharmacists at West Virginia University are developing AI technology to streamline medication reconciliation in hospitals, or the standard of reviewing a patient's drug regimen before discharges.
Using EHR data and notes from physicians, nurses and pharmacists, clinicians spend between 30 to 50 minutes to review a patient's post-discharge medication plan. The task eats up time, especially at large hospitals, but it doesn't have to with AI's help, according to a March 21 news release from the Morgantown-based university.
Abdullah Al-Mamun, PhD, a professor of pharmaceutical systems and policy, is leading a team's creation of an AI tool that pulls this data to build a profile for each patient.
Medication reconciliation "is where 85% of the errors happen," he said. "During a patient's time in the hospital, medications are changed to improve the outcome. The patient cannot go home with the same amounts of medications they were given in the hospital. There should be an adjustment."
Multiple clinicians weigh in on each patient's adjustment, and complicated care plans can eventually lead to readmissions, the release said. At least 1.5 million people experience medication errors, and drug-related injuries in hospitals cost $3.5 billion each year, according to the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.
The tool in development at WVU will also be designed to alert clinicians if a patient is at risk of readmission. If the researchers can secure another grant, the next step will be integrating EHR data and running a pilot test.