Primary care electronic medication record discrepancies in patients starting treatment at a hospital-based ambulatory care pharmacy and impact on prevalence of potential drug–drug interactions
An analysis involving 230 patients identified that about 40% had one or more medications listed in their electronic medication record (EMR) that they were not taking and about 20% used medicines that were not listed causing potential for error in assessing for drug interactions.
Source:
European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy
SPS commentary:
Overall 221 discrepancies were identified in 116 (50.4%) patients in comparing the medicines listed in the medication record with the list of medicines the patient reported they were taking. Factors associated with an increased risk of discrepancies included: being visited by three or more medical specialties (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.11 to 3.37) and attending private healthcare (OR 4.36, 95% CI 1.14 to 16.72) in the 12 months before the study inclusion. Among patients with commissions (n=91), 15.4% had a potential drug interaction between a medicine being started by the hospital clinic and one medication from the EMR that they were not taking at that moment. Among patients with omissions (n=45), 11.1% had a potential drug interaction between the medicine being started by the hospital and a medication being taken by the patient but not present in the EMR.
The authors conclude that the electronic medication record should not be used as the only source of information when screening for drug interactions when starting a new medicine especially in patients followed by different medical specialties and those combining private and public healthcare.