Background: Multi-dose drug dispensing (MDD) is an alternative to assist patients with difficulties in administering and handling their medications. In 2019 the primary care units at Region Gotland reported a high number of discrepancies, regarding patients with MDD discharged from the Hospital of Visby. Due to the high proportion of discrepancies between the patient's medication list in TakeCare and the prescription list of MDD the clinical pharmacists at the hospital began to check all patients marked for discharge in order to discover and prevent eventual discrepancies.
Aim: To identify discrepancies between the patient’s medication list and the prescription for MDD when discharged from the Hospital of Visby and investigate whether there has been a decrease since 2019.
Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study was performed. Medication lists from each patient’s journal and their prescribing record from the prescription system for MDD were reviewed to identify discrepancies, which then were noted and discussed with the physician in charge. Identified discrepancies were rated into pre-defined categories and compared with data from previous years. A chi-square test was performed to investigate the significant difference of discrepancies between the units. The results from the intervention were summarized into figures and tables.
Results: Medication lists from 144 patients with a mean age of 83 years were included. Discrepancies were identified in 34% of the patients and a total of 98 discrepancies were noted, which proves a significant decrease since 2019 when the number of discrepancies was 70%. Totally 79% of the discrepancies were estimated to have occurred during the patient's hospital stay. The highest number of discrepancies were found in the medical department and the difference between all inpatient care departments was significant (p <0.0001).
Conclusion: The results indicate a decrease in discrepancies since 2019. Further research is necessary to clarify the reason behind the discrepancies.