A four-phase approach for systematically collecting data and measuring medication discrepancies when patients transition between health care settings

BackgroundNo methodological standards are available for researchers and clinicians to examine medication discrepancies between health care settings. Systematic methods of examining medication discrepancies will allow researchers and clinicians to better understand factors driving medication discrepancies, to better measure effects of medication reconciliation interventions, and to compare findings across studies.ObjectiveThis article proposes a four-phase approach for systematically collecting medication data and measuring medication discrepancies between a hospital and community pharmacies. Methodologic considerations related to studying medication discrepancies in health services research are also discussed.MethodsA multi-disciplinary study team developed a four-phase systematic approach to improve quality of data and study rigor: 1) operationalization of a medication discrepancy, 2) acquiring medication data, 3) abstraction of medication data and creation of dataset, and 4) measuring and reporting medication discrepancies.ResultsUsing this phase-based approach, the study team successfully identified and reported medication discrepancies between a hospital and community pharmacies at the patient, medication, and community pharmacy units of analyses.ConclusionsSystematically measuring medication discrepancies that occur in the care transitions process is a critical step as researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders work to improve health care quality and patient outcomes. This article detailed how a phase-based approach can be used in research to examine medication discrepancies as well as address the complexity of collecting medication data and analyzing medication discrepancies. Such methods should be considered when developing, conducting, and reporting research on medication discrepancies.