Abstract
Aim: Any transition of patient care is a high-risk time for communication error. This paper explores whether the presence of a pharmacist as part of an interprofessional group provides additional benefit and safety in transitions of care.
Method: Six pharmacy interns and newly qualified pharmacists joined participants from seven other health professional training programmes to take part in an interprofessional education activity. Participants were assigned to 24 mixed-professional groups. Each group was required to craft a discharge summary for the same simulated patient. Groups without a pharmacist were given additional written documentation, including medication reconciliation, discharge prescription and discharge recommendations. The 24 discharge summaries were assessed for any medication-related information, both positive and negative. Groups with a pharmacist (6) were compared with groups who did not have a pharmacist (18) for completeness and accuracy of medication management.
Results: An in-person pharmacist provided more thorough, comprehensive, accessible and accurate information for the community team (p=0.003). Although there was no difference in the absolute number of medication errors between the groups (p=0.057), the groups with a pharmacist showed a significant reduction in the severity of the errors (p=0.009). This result happened despite the groups without a pharmacist being provided with all the required medication information for safe transition of care.
Conclusion: These findings support the case for greater involvement from a pharmacist in a patient's healthcare team, particularly for any transition of care. Healthcare teams that include a pharmacist are more likely to exceed minimum safety expectations and make less severe errors.