SPOKANE, WA – An estimated 90% of patients receiving home health care have at least one discrepancy between their medication lists and what they’re actually taking — making it more likely they will end up in the hospital.
A Washington State University initiative helped a Spokane home health care agency ensure its patients’ medication lists were in proper order and reduced hospitalizations of high-risk heart-failure patients by more than half over a 10-week period.
The project aimed to help nurses and other in-home clinicians “think like a pharmacist” when reviewing medication lists for patients. It combined interdisciplinary teamwork, training in reconciling and evaluating medication lists, and a new tool for reconciling them — making sure that electronic records across different providers are consistent and updated, and checking that patients are taking the appropriate meds…