Examination of Medication Management Summary and Control of Patient Events

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the usefulness of the Medication Management Summary, which is a tool of information sharing between hospital pharmacists and pharmacists at insurance pharmacies, based on patient-centered outcomes. Patients whose hospital pharmacists provided the Medication Management Summary to the pharmacists at the insurance pharmacy were assigned to the Medication Management Summary group (Group A), and patients before the introduction of the Medication Management Summary were assigned to the control group (Group B). Each group consisted of 90 patients, among which 30 were cardiac arrest patients, 30 were ischemia heart disease patients, and 30 were arrhythmia patients. The primary endpoint was the number of events, and the secondary endpoints were the presence or absence of readmission, evaluation of medication adherence, and changes in the number of medications in 6 months. The information on the Medication Management Summary in Group A was as follows: medication changes: 20; start of medication: 43; adverse effects: 4; medication management: 29; adjustment of leftover medication: 8; monitoring: 6 (including duplicates). The number of events was significantly lower (P = 0.032) in Group A (2 events) compared to that in Group B (9 events). The number of patients who were readmitted to the hospital was not significantly different between Group A and Group B. The medication adherence was unchanged in Group A but significantly worsened in Group B (P = 0.001). The number of medications did not change significantly in both groups. In conclusion, the provision of the Medication Management Summary by hospital pharmacists to insurance pharmacy pharmacists can help control patient events.