The Impact of Pharmaceutical Medication Review, Medication Interview Before Discharge and Follow-up: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Detailed Summary

Background It is well known that the transfer of a patient from hospital to the general practitioner is related with mistakes in the medication of the patient. A report from 2006 measure the number of drug related admissions in Denmark to be 69.000 to 162.000 per year. To reduce these mistakes, more and better communication between the health professionals are suggested. Furthermore medication reviews made by pharmacist seems to reduce the number of drug related readmissions and other drug related issues, which can lead to an economic cost reduction. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of medication review and better communication between the health professionals after discharge of a patient from hospital to the general practitioner. The effect is measured as reducing the number of readmissions and number of visits at the emergency department 30 days and six month after inclusion of the patient. Method This study was estimated to include 1500 participants. The patients were randomized to one of three groups; usual care, basic intervention or extended intervention. The usual care received the normal care following the Danish standard procedure. The basic intervention had a medication review by a clinical pharmacist during admission. The extended interventions group was similar to the basic intervention group plus follow-up with the patient, the general practitioner and if relevant the nursing home and pharmacy one week and six month after discharge by interview with the clinical pharmacist.

Study Details

Timeline

Interventions