1. Improving medication reconciliation in ambulatory cancer care
- Author
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Lyndon Morley, Celina Dara, Auro Viswabandya, Osvaldo Espin-Garcia, Jean-Pierre Bissonnette, Alyssa Macedo, Vishal Kukreti, Ernie Mak, Monika K. Krzyzanowska, Rebecca M. Prince, Melanie Lynn Powis, Victoria Glinsky, Judy Costello, Anet Julius, Carissa Milley-Daigle, and Genevieve Bouchard-Fortier
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,medicine.medical_specialty ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,business.industry ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,Cancer ,medicine.disease ,Documentation ,Oncology ,Medication Reconciliation ,Ambulatory ,medicine ,Intensive care medicine ,business - Abstract
224 Background: Adverse drug events are common in ambulatory oncology where care spans multiple providers and medication documentation is often poor. We undertook a QI project with the aim of having 30% of patients have a best possible medication history (BPMH) or medication reconciliation (MedRec) documented within 30 days of starting systemic therapy. Methods: An Electronic Medical record-Integrated Tool (EMITT) was developed to facilitate documentation. 2 Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles have been completed to date; PDSA 1 consisted of piloting EMITT in 3 clinics run by physician champions. PDSA 2 which consisted of expanding pharmacy support and addition of a 4th clinic was impacted by care changes related to COVID. The proportion of patients with BPMH/MedRec documented in EMITT was calculated monthly for each period (PDSA 1, PDSA 2 pre-COVID and PDSA 2 post-COVID). The balancing measure of time to complete an entry was evaluated through a time motion study. Results: Between 9/9/2019 and 31/5/2020, 9.4% (233/2488) of patients had BPMH/MedRec completed; Table shows proportion of patients by month. BPMH and MedRec were most frequently performed by pharmacists followed by pharmacy students and nurses. On average, it took 5.5 minutes to complete an entry (n = 10; median number of medications per patient = 12.3). Conclusions: BPMH was documented more often than MedRec. While some usage was sustained, the changes to care as a result of COVID-19 negatively impacted ambulatory medication reconciliation. Future PDSA cycles will involve engaging patients in MedRec and extending EMITT to all ambulatory cancer clinics where medication management is a major component of care. [Table: see text]
- Published
- 2020