title: Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation to reduce discrepancies in transitions of care in Spain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medication errors are one of the main causes of morbidity amongst hospital inpatients. More than half of medication errors occur at 'interfaces of care', when patients are discharged or transferred to the care of another physician. Medication reconciliation is the process of reviewing patients' complete previous medication regimen, comparing it with current prescriptions, and analysing and resolving any discrepancies that the pharmacist does not believe to be intentional (unjustified discrepancies).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To quantify and analyse reconciliation unjustified discrepancies detected by a pharmacist in patients admitted to an internal medicine unit (IMU) over a 3-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  The hospital employs a pharmacist who acts as a link between the primary care services and the internal medicine specialist care unit. A retrospective descriptive study on the reconciliation discrepancies found was carried out. Medication reconciliation was performed upon admission in all patients transferred from the Accident and Emergency department (A&E) and admitted to the IMU, and also at the time of discharge. The interventions were categorised based on the consensus document on terminology and medication classification published by the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Number of patients with unjustified discrepancies, also known as reconciliation errors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  2,473 patients had their treatment reviewed at the time of admission and 1,150 at discharge. 866 reconciliation discrepancies were detected in 446 patients (1.94 per patient). 807 (93 %) were accepted by the prescribing physician and classified as reconciliation errors. 16.8 % of patients had at least one reconciliation error: 63.8 % of these errors were incomplete prescriptions, 16.6 % were medication omissions and 10.5 % were errors in dosage, administration method and/or frequency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rate of medication errors found in this study is low compared with other similar studies. The most common error was "incomplete prescriptions", most of them generated by the Accident and Emergency department. A computerised clinical history would help to decrease the number of reconciliation errors. Pharmacist interventions focused on medication reconciliation are well accepted by physicians, improving the quality of clinical histories and decreasing the number of medication errors that occur across transitions in patient care.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Department, Lozano Blesa Clinical Hospital, Saragossa, Spain, marianallende@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Maria Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Allende Bandrés
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arenere Mendoza
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez Nicolás
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Calleja Hernández
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ruiz La Iglesia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D059065:Medication Reconciliation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000592:standards; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult