A collaborative pharmaceutical care intervention decreased inpatient medication errors by 77.8 percent at admission and 78.7 percent at discharge, according to a study in BMJ Quality and Safety.
Researchers at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, implemented the Pharmaceutical Care in Tallaght Hospital intervention, or PACT, to examine any differences in medication errors between the intervention group and the standard care group.
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The PACT intervention included aligning clinical pharmacists with a medical team instead of with a ward, having pharmacists lead, rather than "contribute," to medication history and reconciliation upon admission, having a medical practitioner co-sign any changes made to patients' drug charts and providing medication reconciliation at discharge.
Nine percent of patients receiving PACT intervention experienced a medication error, compared to 40.5 percent of patients receiving standard care. Upon discharge, 13.9 percent of PACT intervention patients experienced a medication error, compared to 65.3 percent of standard care patients.
Additionally, PACT intervention clinical pharmacists were more likely to note suggestions to optimize medication use than standard care clinical pharmacists.
Researchers suggested health providers "implement collaborative models of medication management between medicine and pharmacy and to facilitate collaborative prescribing by pharmacists within this model," according to the study.
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