The Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
At The Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, a team performed a test of medication reconciliation during admission to the critical care unit. This tracking tool includes information about the plans and goals for the test as well as data collection forms. Additional data sheets provide fields for recording data summaries, formatted graphs, and references for estimating cost savings. The form may be a helpful reference for other health care organizations planning to test their medication reconciliation during admission.
Background
Reconciling medications when a patient is admitted to a critical care unit can be an important step in preventing adverse drug events (ADEs). A team at The Johns Hopkins Medical Center tested this process and developed a tool for tracking its work. Although this tool was developed for testing reconciliation upon admission to a critical care unit, it can be modified easily and applied to the admission process in any unit.
Directions
Organizations planning to test medication reconciliation procedures should make sure to begin with clear goals and a complete plan. The tool from The Johns Hopkins Medical Center is a helpful example of a tracking system. Feel free to download it. Review its content carefully and modify it to suit your own unit and testing procedure.
