title: Accuracy of general practitioner medication histories for patients presenting to the emergency department.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinical handover and obtaining best possible medication histories (BPMH) at transition points in care are key patient safety pri-orities. This study aimed to determine the accuracy of medication histories documented on general practitioner (GP) referral letters for patients referred to emergency departments.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a multicentre prospective observational study in eight emergency departments. Patients taking ≥1 regular medication, referred to the emergency department with a GP letter and seen by a pharmacist were included. GP medication regimens were compared with BPMH documented by the emergency department pharmacist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the GP letters (total 414), 361 (87%) had one or more discrepancies in the patients' regular medications and 62% had one or more regular medication discrepancies of moderate-high significance. Omission of medication was more prevalent in hand-written letters (P DISCUSSION: GP referral letters should not be used in isolation to determine the medication regimen taken before an emergency department presentation. Interventions are indicated to improve awareness and accuracy of medication documentation.
authors.affiliation: PharmD, GC CRM, Senior Pharmacist, Emergency Medicine and Research, Pharmacy Department, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.forename: Leonie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: Baljit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Riyat
authors.forename: Mel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morrow
authors.forename: Dona
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: Sheridan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodda
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heward
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors; D059065:Medication Reconciliation / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards; D011446:Prospective Studies