Rebeca Stones
More often than we would like, pharmaceutical errors and the negative effects they can cause happen. The inaccuracy has a major negative impact on patient welfare and treatment. We anticipate that as technology develops and more information becomes available, the likelihood of these mistakes will likewise increase. Every time a patient transition from an inpatient to an outpatient facility, from one practitioner to another, from one pharmacy to another, or because of travel requirements, there are medication errors. Dialysis patients typically take a number of drugs, and many have voiced worry that they are forgetting to take them either when they are on their own or when changing facilities. There have been indications that these mistakes are frequent. We think that the patient himself is the one common factor that can aid in reducing these errors. We recognise that many patients struggle to keep up with the changes due to their complicated medical needs. We want to make it possible for the patient to travel with a tool that can be readily updated to reflect his or her current prescription as needed. By using medicine wallets, this Quality Improvement (QI) measure sought to enable the patient to play the most active part in their own health. At Dialysis Clinic Inc. (DCI)/Little Rock Renal Services, this QI measure was established to help peritoneal dialysis patients better reconcile their medications. 6 months' worth of data was gathered.
