It is extremely important for physicians to obtain accurate information on patient medication histories on hospitalization.At the National Hospital Organization Kobe Medical Center,we have been asking all newly hospitalized patients abouttheir medication history and providing information on this to other medical staff through the electronic medical records systemsince October 1,2007,in order to enhance safety and reduce medication costs by using medicines brought by patients.However,it is often more difficult to ask patients about their medication histories when they are hospitalized in an emergencythan it is in the case of scheduled hospitalization.To examine the importance of and problems in the management ofmedication histories for emergency hospitalization,we investigated the status of medication history management as well aspharmaceutical care management and usage of medicines brought by patients,and compared the findings with the case ofscheduled hospitalization.We also evaluated the new system for this purpose through a questionnaire survey of all physiciansin our hospital.No difference was found in the proportion of patients with medication history between an emergency hospitalization andscheduled hospitalization group.However,for the former,the number of patients bringing medicines to hospital and havingprescription histories at our hospital was significantly lower.Also,use of antiplatelet and anticoagulant agents tended togreater,though the difference was not significant.The questionnaire results revealed that prompt information was needed,especially for patients hospitalized in an emergency.These findings suggested that medication management is more important for patients hospitalized in an emergency.Theyalso suggested that it is necessary to increase our efforts to ask such patients about their medication history.kn-abstract=
