Evaluation of an inpatient computerized medication reconciliation system

J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2008 Jul-Aug;15(4):449-52. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M2561. Epub 2008 Apr 24.

Abstract

We designed the Pre-Admission Medication List (PAML) Builder medication reconciliation application and implemented it at two academic hospitals. We asked 1,714 users to complete a survey of their satisfaction with the application and analyzed factors associated with user efficiency. The survey was completed by 626 (36.5%) users. Most (64%) responders agreed that medication reconciliation improves patient care. Improvement requests included better medication information sources and propagation of medication information to order entry. Sixty-nine percent of admitting clinicians reported a typical time to build a PAML of <10 min. Decreased reported time to build a PAML was associated with reported experience with the application and ease of use but not the average number of medications on the PAML. Most users agreed that medication reconciliation improves patient care but requested tighter integration of the different stages of the medication reconciliation process. Further training may be helpful in improving user efficiency.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Academic Medical Centers
  • Attitude of Health Personnel*
  • Continuity of Patient Care / organization & administration*
  • Data Collection
  • Decision Support Systems, Clinical
  • Efficiency
  • Humans
  • Medical Order Entry Systems*
  • Medical Staff, Hospital
  • Medication Errors / prevention & control*
  • Medication Systems, Hospital / organization & administration*
  • Patient Admission