Assigning pharmacists to check patients' discharge orders significantly lowered medication errors at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, according to a Star Tribune report.
Hospital pharmacy director Bruce Thompson and his colleagues conducted a study of 37 cases over a three month period in 2008-2009. An analysis of those cases revealed a 92 percent rate of medication errors.
To combat the problem, the hospital assigned pharmacists to check patients' discharge orders before they were released from the hospital. If an error is discovered on their discharge order, the assigned pharmacist proceeded to contact the physician. The intervention helped the hospital's medication error rate fall drastically from 92 percent to nearly zero, according to the report. In turn, the hospital's readmission rate halved to a little more than 5 percent.
Hospital pharmacy director Bruce Thompson and his colleagues conducted a study of 37 cases over a three month period in 2008-2009. An analysis of those cases revealed a 92 percent rate of medication errors.
To combat the problem, the hospital assigned pharmacists to check patients' discharge orders before they were released from the hospital. If an error is discovered on their discharge order, the assigned pharmacist proceeded to contact the physician. The intervention helped the hospital's medication error rate fall drastically from 92 percent to nearly zero, according to the report. In turn, the hospital's readmission rate halved to a little more than 5 percent.
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