Medication Reconciliation at the Admission of the Medical Emergency Unit of Teaching Pediatric Hospital of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Abstract

Introduction and Problem Statement: Many medication errors occur during the community and hospital transition. Indeed, the World Health Organization launched the international “High 5S” project to implement medication reconciliation in healthcare facilities to reduce them and ensure patients a safe, high-quality healthcare pathway. Objective: This study aimed to detect medication errors by reconciling drug treatments and assess the relevance and feasibility of this standardized practice within the Medical Emergency Unit of the Teaching Pediatric Hospital of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Methods: Patients whose parents gave their consent at their entrance were enrolled. For each patient, the pharmacy team completed a reconciliation form that included the patient’s usual treatment, which was taken and in progress and received upon admission to the medical emergency unit. Patients’ treatments were reviewed to detect and characterize discrepancies. The data of each form were reported and analyzed using KoboCollect, an Android application. Results: 135 records and 412 medication lines were captured over six weeks. The average time of treatment reconciliation per patient was 57 minutes. One thousand one hundred ninety-eight (1198) intentional discrepancies were detected, of which 6.09% were documented. Seventy-one (71) unintentional discrepancies were collected, including 39 omissions, 24 regimen dosing errors, and 8 pharmaceutical form dosage errors. Forty-nine (49) unintentional discrepancies, or 69.01%, were corrected by formulated pharmaceutical interventions toward physicians. Conclusion: Medical treatment reconciliation during hospital admission is critical because discrepancies can compromise the efficacy and/or safety of the patient’s hospital medication.