Discharge Communication of Medications for Hospitalized Pediatric Patients and Caregivers

Abstract

Background: Effective discharge communication is essential for reducing medication errors at home, a leading cause of harm that particularly impacts pediatric patients and caregivers with limited English proficiency (LEP). Little is known about the quality of provider communication of medications to patients and caregivers at the time of hospital discharge. Purpose: To characterize nurse communication of medications at the time of hospital discharge for hospitalized children. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using direct structured observation of hospital discharges by trained observers at a freestanding children’s hospital. We included conveniently sampled discharge encounters of …