[Medication reconciliation in primary care after hospital discharge]

Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medication Reconciliation in Frail Elderly People at Hospital Discharge: Perception of Healthcare Professionals

The current demographic panorama in Spain corresponds to an aging population; this situation is characterized by the need to care for an elderly population, which contains polymedicated and pluripathological individuals. Polymedication is a criterion of frailty in the elderly and a risk factor for mortality and morbidity due to the increased risk of drug interactions and medication errors. There are numerous studies that measure reconciliation at hospital discharge and at admission, and even the methodology of reconciliation, but we have not found many studies that measure reconciliation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic from the point of view of health professionals regarding difficulties and the strategies carried out, which is essential to begin to glimpse solutions.

METHODS

This was a qualitative study based on 21 in-depth interviews and two discussion groups, conducted between January and April 2021 (13 nurses and 8 doctors, in rural and urban areas). The discourse was analyzed according to the Taylor-Bodgan model and processed using Atlas.ti software.

RESULTS

The areas altered by the health crisis were access to patients, their reconciliation of medication, and changes in the care modality, including the greater use of telephone communication, changes in work organization, and time dedicated to patient care and family work. Difficulties encountered during COVID-19: change in medication format, the specific characteristics of the patient and their pathologies, and difficulties arising from communication with the patient and their family. The strategies applied: the collaboration of home assistants and caregivers, emphasis on patient-health professional communication, and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

CONCLUSION

The discharge was interrupted by the health crisis caused by COVID-19, in terms of both the traditional access of patients and by the remote care modalities generated by telemedicine.

[Multidisciplinar revision of treatment in nursing home patients in COVID-19 context]

Objetivo

Durante la pandemia por COVID-19 se contó con un médico de apoyo a los centros sociosanitarios de nuestra Comunidad Autónoma, lo que permitió realizar una intervención multidisciplinar para revisar sistemáticamente la medicación prescrita a las personas institucionalizadas; el objetivo de este estudio es evaluar el impacto de esta intervención en la reducción del número de fármacos/paciente.

Métodos

Estudio multicéntrico prospectivo antes-después de una intervención en la que participan médicos y farmacéuticos de atención primaria en 4 centros sociosanitarios de menos de 50 residentes. Se realizó una revisión sistemática de la medicación a través de un algoritmo, donde se identificaron problemas relacionados con los medicamentos (PRM), los cuales fueron comunicados al médico por el farmacéutico de atención primaria a través de recomendaciones en la prescripción. Se midió el grado de aceptación por el médico de dichas recomendaciones.

Resultados

Se revisaron 121 pacientes con una edad media de 86,1 años (DE 7,2); el 87,6% eran mujeres. De estos, se pudo realizar la intervención en 98 pacientes que tomaban una media de 9,4 fármacos (DE 4,0), con una disminución estadísticamente significativa de -1,6 fármacos (IC95% -1,3 a -1,9) p< 0,001 después de la intervención. En estos, se detectaron 409 PRM, con una media de 4,2 PRM por paciente. Todos los PRM formaron parte de una recomendación, de las cuales fueron aceptadas 316 (77,3%). La mayoría de las recomendaciones fueron de prescripción o ajuste en la posología de un medicamento. Los psicofármacos, antihipertensivos y analgésicos fueron los grupos terapéuticos mayoritariamente implicados en los PRM detectados.

Conclusiones

Se ha observado una reducción estadísticamente significativa en el número medio de fármacos por paciente tras la intervención. Se han identificado PRM a través de la revisión sistemática de la medicación por el farmacéutico de atención primaria que han sido mayoritariamente aceptados por el médico.

[Results of implementing a programme to improve the quality of the contents in hospital discharge reports in cases of heart failure]

OBJECTIVES

To analyse the information collected in hospital discharge reports (HDR) that are given to patients with a diagnosis of heart failure (HF), and demonstrate the improvement in the content of these reports after the introduction of an intervention.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

HDR with HF as the main diagnosis issued by the Department of Internal Medicine were analysed, and the presence of the diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic data in these HDR was compared in a sample before and after the intervention, which consisted of reporting the results of analysis of the initial sample to the physicians.

RESULTS

A total of 651 HDR (371 pre-intervention and 280 post-intervention) were analysed. Most of the HDR (over 70%) did not include the functional class. Most of the HDR did not include information about echocardiogram performed before the hospitalization period analysed, and most of the HDR that collected this information did not determine if the HF was diastolic or systolic. In the post-intervention sample there was a lower percentage of HDR that prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blocker ii (26% vs 32%, P<.001). In 30% of the pre-intervention sample and 38% of the post-intervention sample there was indication of beta-blockers (P=.027).

CONCLUSIONS

A short discussion with the physicians responsible for patients with HF improves the inclusion of important data on the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment in the HDR.