Trial reportBMJ quality & safety2018
Improving admission medication reconciliation with pharmacists or pharmacy technicians in the emergency department: a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMJ quality & safety, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02026453 (Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians to Improve Admission Medication History Accuracy), which is not on this map. Cited by 32 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians to Improve Admission Medication History Accuracy
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- What is the evidence that a pharmacy team working in an acute or emergency medicine department improves outcomes for patients: A systematic review.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2022Pooled it
- Reducing medication errors for adults in hospital settings.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Pharmacist services for non-hospitalised patients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Impact of medication reconciliation for improving transitions of care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Engaging hospital patients in the medication reconciliation process using tablet computers.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2018Trial
- Clinical impact of medication reconciliation on physicians' treatment policies at outpatient clinics: a cross-sectional study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Best possible medication history interview guide: a rapid scoping review.BMJ open quality · 2026Article
- Enhancing medication safety with System Approach to Verifying Electronic Prescriptions (SAV E-Rx): pharmacists' review of product selection outcomes between prescribed and dispensed medications.BMJ health & care informatics · 2025Article
- Improving medication safety with proactive reconciliation in acute coronary syndrome patients: A randomized trial.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Programs and Strategies in Saudi Arabia: A Narrative Review.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2025Review
- [Ward-based clinical pharmacists in intensive care medicine: an economic evaluation].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2024Article
- Medication Reconciliation as Part of Admission Management-A Survey to Improve Drug Therapy Safety in a Urology Department.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Comparing Medication History Capture Rates In-Person Versus Hybrid: A Multisite Pilot Study.Hospital pharmacy · 2024Article
- Enhancing healthcare access for an older population: The age-friendly emergency department.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2024Review
- Clinical Pharmacy Services in Canadian Emergency Departments: A 2022 National Survey.The Canadian journal of hospital pharmacy · 2024Article
- Use of complete medication history to identify and correct transitions-of-care medication errors at psychiatric hospital admission.PloS one · 2023Article
- Medication reconciliation to support pharmacogenomics implementation.Annals of translational medicine · 2022Article
- Inclusion of older adults and reporting of consent processes in randomized controlled trials in the emergency department: A scoping review.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2022Article
- Twelve-week project to improve medication reconciliation at hospitals in Wellington, New Zealand.BMJ open quality · 2021Article
- Implementation of a Pharmacist-Managed Transitions of Care Tool.Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAdmission medication history (AMH) errors frequently cause medication order errors and patient harm.
objectiveTo quantify AMH error reduction achieved when pharmacy staff obtain AMHs before admission medication orders (AMO) are placed.
methodsThis was a three-arm randomised controlled trial of 306 inpatients. In one intervention arm, pharmacists, and in the second intervention arm, pharmacy technicians, obtained initial AMHs prior to admission. They obtained and reconciled medication information from multiple sources. All arms, including the control arm, received usual AMH care, which included variation in several common processes. The primary outcome was severity-weighted mean AMH error score. To detect AMH errors, all patients received reference standard AMHs, which were compared with intervention and control group AMHs. AMH errors and resultant AMO errors were independently identified and rated by ≥2 investigators as significant, serious or life threatening. Each error was assigned 1, 4 or 9 points, respectively, to calculate severity-weighted AMH and AMO error scores for each patient.
resultsPatient characteristics were similar across arms (mean±SD age 72±16 years, number of medications 15±7). Analysis was limited to 278 patients (91%) with reference standard AMHs. Mean±SD AMH errors per patient in the usual care, pharmacist and technician arms were 8.0±5.6, 1.4±1.9 and 1.5±2.1, respectively (p<0.0001). Mean±SD severity-weighted AMH error scores were 23.0±16.1, 4.1±6.8 and 4.1±7.0 per patient, respectively (p<0.0001). These AMH errors led to a mean±SD of 3.2±2.9, 0.6±1.1 and 0.6±1.1 AMO errors per patient, and mean severity-weighted AMO error scores of 6.9±7.2, 1.5±2.9 and 1.2±2.5 per patient, respectively (both p<0.0001).
conclusionsPharmacists and technicians reduced AMH errors and resultant AMO errors by over 80%. Future research should examine other sites and patient-centred outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02026453.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.