Patient safety is a priority for healthcare providers in all healthcare settings. A core component of care impacting patient safety is the medication reconciliation process. As defined by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) medication reconciliation has three steps: verification, clarification, and reconciliation. The collection of the patient’s medication history is the first step yet often the most challenging. Initiatives focused upstream in the medication reconciliation process is critical for all members of the care coordination team to improve patient safety across care transitions. Despite preventable medication errors occurring in 3.3 million outpatients visits annually, the existing body of literature on the medication reconciliation process, specifically medication history collection, is concentrated on acute care settings. Given ambulatory care visits are more prevalent and occur both in-person and virtual, it is important to focus on this care delivery setting to improve the quality of each client’s medication history. Learners will be able to recognize the importance of a client’s medication history. Key elements when obtaining a medication history such as client interview techniques, sources and the hierarchy of medication information and documentation best practices will be introduced. Opportunities for the case manager to identify client care needs and advance practice using the medication history will be reviewed. Case managers are uniquely positioned in the ambulatory setting, often interacting with clients between provider encounters. These enhanced touchpoints allow case managers to identify and coordinate care to improve safety and quality. Case-based discussion and assessment will be utilized to apply session learnings, specifically on patient interview techniques and the case manager role. This program will also allow the novice learner to perform a self-assessment of their current knowledge of the medication history process.

OBJECTIVES:
1.Recognize the importance of a client’s medication history.
2.Describe key elements to obtain a complete and accurate medication history.
3.Identify opportunities for case managers to use the medication history to improve client care.

PRESENTER PROFILES:
Donna Walsh
John Flaherty, MBA
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