Date of Award
Summer 8-22-2020
Document Type
Scholarly Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Dr. Douglas M. Turner, PhD, DNP, RN, CNE, NE-BC, NEA-BC
Second Advisor
Dr. Andrya Rivera-Burciaga, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, ACHPN
Third Advisor
Dr. Pamela Gobina, PharmD, MBA
Abstract
Practice Problem:There was a report of a high rate of medication errors from inaccurate medication reconciliation during admission to a local hospital in South Texas. The medication error rate was 14.88% on 20 reviewed charts, and 85% of all evaluated charts contained at least one medication discrepancy.
PICOT: This evidence-based, system-change project was guided by the following PICOT question: For nurses administering medication in a long-term acute care hospital, does the implementation of Medication Reconciliation Timeout Process (MRTP) decrease the medication errors, compared to the usual medication practice, in one month?
Evidence: Thirteen pertinent studies recommended the use of a combination of checklists and the timeout process to see a reduction in the number of medical errors and improvements in performance and safety.
Intervention: The evidence-based intervention utilized MRTP with a checklist while performing medication reconciliation during admission. Two nurses checked the medication reconciliation for accuracy and completeness by comparing the medication list against transferring facility to physician’s admission orders.
Outcome: The outcome of the project after the evidence-based intervention was a medication error rate of 3.77%, which was a significant reduction from 14.88%.
Conclusion: The implementation of MRTP resulted in an 11.11% decrease in medication errors within four weeks in a long-term acute care facility.
Recommended Citation
Dizon, R. (2020). The Effect of Medication Reconciliation Timeout on Patient Safety: An Evidence-Based Project. [Doctoral project, University of St Augustine for Health Sciences]. SOAR @ USA: Student Scholarly Projects Collection. https://doi.org/10.46409/sr.RWLY6082
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Scholarly project submitted to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Nursing Practice.