[Patient's own medications in a Swiss regional hospital: where are we and where should we go?]
OBJECTIVE
The use of patient's own medications (POMs) during inpatient admissions may represent a risk if not adequately supervised. The objective of this work was: (i) to assess the management of POMs in our hospital, and (ii) to identify actions to assure this practice.


METHODS
A questionnaire survey was conducted among caregivers of the medical, surgery and geriatric units of a Swiss regional hospital. Six criteria for appropriate management of POMs were identified from the literature and internal consensus. Based on this survey and data from literature, the investigators identified relevant actions to be implemented for optimizing the management of POMs.


RESULTS
Out of the 21 included units, 3 already set an inner written POMs policy, and 3 managed POM in accordance with selected criteria. The main issues were that POMs were mainly stored in the patient's room, and that quality criteria were not systematically checked before POMs' administration. POMs were mainly used to ensure continuity of treatment. Two thirds of the units systematically returned POMs to the patients upon discharge, but rarely sorted them out before recovery. Ten actions were identified to secure the management of POMs.


CONCLUSIONS
These results confirm that POMs are commonly used and indicate a potential for improvement in the management of POMs in our hospital. An institutional guideline is now planned to support the implementation of the identified actions.
Service de pharmacie, institut central des hôpitaux (ICH), hôpital du Valais, avenue du Grand-Champsec 86, 1951 Sion, Suisse.
O
O
Michel
Service de pharmacie, institut central des hôpitaux (ICH), hôpital du Valais, avenue du Grand-Champsec 86, 1951 Sion, Suisse.
J
J
Beney
Service qualité des soins et sécurité des patients, hôpital du Valais, Suisse.
P
P
Turini
Direction des soins infirmiers, hôpital du Valais, Suisse.
M
M
Desmedt
Service de pharmacie, institut central des hôpitaux (ICH), hôpital du Valais, avenue du Grand-Champsec 86, 1951 Sion, Suisse. Electronic address: lucien.roulet@gmail.com.
L
L
Roulet
D006760:Hospitalization; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
Circuit du médicament; Directive; Enquête par questionnaire; Guideline [MeSH]; Hospital [MeSH]; Hospitals [MeSH]; Hôpitaux; Medication systems; Patient's own medications; Surveys and questionnaires [MeSH]; Traitement personnel du patient