Medication Reconciliation Education in an Outpatient Mental Health Clinic

Abstract

Purpose: This quality improvement project aimed to enhance providers’ and staff’s knowledge about the importance of medication reconciliation (MR) at an outpatient mental health clinic called Bella Vista Integrated Health. It also aimed to increase their confidence in performing MR. Background: Medication errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Medication errors are considered preventable and are often the result of improper MR. Studies support that MR is an effective way of recognizing medication discrepancies and preventing medication errors. The Joint Commission recognized the need to perform MR and identified it as their patient safety goal #8. The MATCH (Medication at Transition and Clinical Handoffs) toolkit (Appendix D) is an evidence-based toolkit developed with the support of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to enhance the workflow process of MR in an organization. Methods: This DNP project consisted of an educational program which included a PowerPoint presentation to teach providers and staff about the importance of an accurate MR. The educational material included a pretest and a posttest to evaluate the participants’ knowledge about MR. The pretest questionnaire tested the participants’ baseline knowledge, and the posttest reevaluated their knowledge after they viewed the educational presentation and assessed their confidence level. A total sample N=12 responded to the invitation and eight participants completed the pretest and posttest. Results: This project was successful in improving providers’ and staff’s knowledge about the importance of MR. There was an improvement in both knowledge and confidence in MR. The pretest average score was 8/10. The posttest average was 9.63/10. Five participants’ posttest scores improved after they viewed the PowerPoint presentation whereas two participants’ scores remained the same in the pre and posttest. On a scale of 0 – 5, with ‘5’ being as confident as possible, five participants reported ‘5’ for their confidence level with MR. Conclusion: This project was successful in improving providers’ and staff’s knowledge about the importance of MR. This type of educational program can be an effective tool for teaching staff about the importance of MR, and increasing their confidence in performing MR.