The Effects of Developing an Inpatient Medication Reconciliation System at Waeng Hospital

Abstract

This research and development study aimed to examine the effects of developing an inpatient medication reconciliation (MR) system at Waeng Hospital. The research was conducted in three phases: Phase 1 studied the current situation and identified problems in the existing MR process; Phase 2 involved developing the inpatient MR system; and Phase 3 evaluated the effectiveness of the developed system. The sample consisted of all inpatients with chronic medication use admitted to Waeng Hospital. The research instruments included the medication reconciliation record form, doctor order sheets, and the HosXp program, with a content validity index of 1.00. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, and pre–post comparison with the Chi-square test.

The study found that the system ensured completion of the medication reconciliation (MR) process within 24 hours. Prior to the system development, 66.90% of inpatients had the MR process completed within 24 hours, whereas after the development, this increased to 99.66%. Following the system development, it became possible to analyze differences in medication lists related to medication errors for all patients. The findings revealed that 71.37% of the discrepancies were due to unintentional physician errors, which were classified as medication errors. In terms of severity, the errors were categorized at Level B, as the MR process guaranteed completion within 24 hours, thereby preventing the errors from reaching the patients. Before the system development, such analysis could not be performed.

The findings demonstrate that the medication reconciliation process can enhance medication safety when it is carried out comprehensively and within the specified timeframe. The process helps reduce the severity of adverse drug events, thereby improving patient safety in medication use.