Characterization of Medication Discrepancies Occurring at the Time of Discharge from an Adult State Psychiatric Inpatient Facility

Abstract

PurposeTo retrospectively measure the frequency of medication discrepancies occurring at hospital discharge and to characterize these discrepancies.MethodsAll consecutive discharges from an adult state psychiatric hospital with a length of stay ≥2 days were retrospectively evaluated for medication discrepancies occurring at the time of discharge. The content of the handwritten discharge plan was compared to the medication administration record from the last day of admission to identify medication discharge discrepancies. The primary endpoint was to determine the number of patients with a medication discharge discrepancy (MDD). Secondary objectives were to characterize the MDD by type of discrepancy and medication class (psychiatric vs nonpsychiatric).ResultsFrom October 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, 205 patients were screened for eligibility; 163 patients were included. Thirty-eight patients (23.3%) had at least 1 MDD, with 10 (26.3%) of these patients having >1 MDD (range, 2-6). Characterization of the MDDs determined that 63.2% of the discrepancies occurred because a scheduled medication was omitted on the discharge plan whereas 36.8% were due to a dosing discrepancy. MDDs occurred at a similar rate for both classes of medications (ie, psychiatric and nonpsychiatric), but omission discrepancies occurred more commonly with nonpsychiatric medications and dosing discrepancies occurred more commonly with psychiatric medications.ConclusionsMedication discrepancies occur commonly on hospital discharge. Understanding the frequency and types of MDDs occurring at this interface of care can assist in the development of more effective and targeted medication reconciliation procedures.