722 Audit on Improving the Management of Pre-Operative Medication Prior to Elective Surgery

Abstract

Abstract Aim Patients presenting for elective surgery frequently omit one or more regular medications. Inappropriate management of some medication classes may lead to pre or perioperative complications. Our objective was to assess if preoperative patients are receiving their prescribed medications correctly preoperatively. Method A 2 staged PDSA cycle was conducted. All patients admitted to the elective surgical ward were sampled. Patients’ drug chart was retrospectively reviewed to determine if their preoperative medications have been correctly prescribed. Our interventions included posters to be displayed in elective surgical wards following the first wound and local departmental teaching during the second cycle of the audit. This 1ST and 2nd cycle were re-audited at 2 month and 4 months interval respectively to assess compliance and monitor for improvement. Results In the first cycle, 50 patients were included in the first round and 45 in the re-audit. 19/50 (38%) patients received their medications correctly. Post implementation of the posters, this improved to 56% (n = 25/45). During the second cycle, the baseline data reported 55% (n = 33/60) of the patients had their medications correctly managed preoperatively. The reaudit statistics demonstrated a rise to 71% (n = 35/50). Conclusions This quality improvement audit shows that our interventions between audit cycles have made a significant improvement in patients receiving their medications and therefore this has a direct positive impact on patient safety and outcomes. Work to introduce an electronic record of drug chart to this NHS trust is still underway.