Some of the concerns voiced by delegates regarding medication
management
We have a
problem with
recording… …lack of
standardisation Insufficient
data to make
decisions…
…lots of
inadequate
prescriptions No one trusts
each other…
problems with
stock holding… …you can’t
access the data
wastage and healthcare professionals spending
excessive time carrying out administrative and
management tasks, which could otherwise be spent
on patient care. Hence, medication management
should be prioritised and carefully executed. It was
highlighted that suboptimal medication
management continues to be an issue throughout
Europe, with one delegate describing their system as
‘almost broken, and pretty dysfunctional’, a concern
shared by many of the delegates.
Components of optimal integrated medication
management
One of the key consensuses reached by the delegates
was that optimal integrated medication
management is composed of three crucial
components or ‘pillars’:
• End-to-end medication safety
• Improved clinician and IT effi ciency
• Enterprise medication inventory optimization
End-to-end medication safety
The phrase ‘end-to-end’ was consistently re-iterated
throughout the meeting. As many delegates
highlighted, medication management is not a
singular action, but consists of numerous steps,
beginning with the manufacturing of the drug and
continuing through to the prescribing, dispensing
and administration of the drug. In order to ensure
optimal patient care, safety must not be
compromised at any step. As one delegate pointed
out, if the drug prescription is not good to begin
with, then you have already compromised patient
safety and good medication management.
Another key point highlighted was the
importance of ‘closing the loop’ in the medication
management cycle and reviewing outcomes to
ensure that the correct treatment was followed. This
4 | 2019 | hospitalpharmacyeurope.com
…too much
discrepancy
between
hospitals
also provides an opportunity for the recording and
rectifi cation of errors where appropriate.
Improved clinician and IT effi ciency
A concern raised by delegates was the current
shortage of healthcare professionals, which can
place healthcare systems under considerable
pressure. Hence, optimisation of current staff is
crucial. If the medication management procedure,
including the IT components, can be optimised, this
can free up signifi cant time for healthcare
professionals, allowing them to focus more time on
patient care. This reduction in manual workload can
also lead to considerable economic savings and a
reduction in the risk of errors.
Ineffi cient IT can negatively impact data collection.
Medical devices can be invaluable sources of data that
can be rapidly converted into reports, allowing for
continuous quality audit and improvement.
However, it is extremely time-
consuming if this data has to be
obtained separately from each
individual medical device. It is
more time effi cient and
feasible if a remote station
can collect and combine
data from individual
medical devices. This data
can then be used by
healthcare professionals
to help make clinical
decisions and monitor
errors and outcomes.
Delegates strongly agreed
that IT can be a valuable asset
to improving medication
management, but it needs to be
accessible and easy for staff to use.
We have to close
the loop of
actually reviewing
the patient again
to see how they
are responding
Inderjit Singh, UK