An innovative approach of partnering with patients to achieve a collaborative medication care plan earlier in the admission process has been recognised with a World-Class Care Quality Award.
The initiative led by the Acute and Urgent Care and SA Pharmacy teams in General Medicine demonstrates a collaborative way of working with the patient, clinical pharmacist and admitting doctor, promoting best patient outcomes and minimising medication errors.
Medication errors are commonly reported in hospitals and can be associated with patient harm and delays in hospital discharge.
By using the expertise and input of key individuals, the collaborative model is designed to empower and engage the patient’s voice in the medication decision making.
At admission, the clinical pharmacist obtains a ‘best possible’ medication history, working with the patient to understand their goals, challenges and desires regarding medication care. This is followed by the clinical pharmacist and admitting medical officer developing an agreed medication care plan centred around the patient’s medication needs.
The positive outcomes of this project include reduced time to achieve a best possible medication history, positive feedback from the admitting medical officers and embedding a collaborative multi-disciplinary approach to medication care planning.
In celebration of CALHN’s World Class Care Day, the recipients of our inaugural Quality and Improvement Awards were announced on 26 March 2021. Congratulations to the Acute and Urgent Care and SA Pharmacy teams on the success of their project ‘Clinical Pharmacists Augmenting Admission’ which won in the Patients as Partners category (Associate Director of Pharmacy Sharon Goldsworthy accepted the award on behalf of the project team).
