Patients' knowledge of new medicines after discharge from hospital: What are the effects of hospital-based discharge counseling and community-based medicines use reviews (MURs)?

Patient knowledge of medicines newly prescribed in the hospital was increased by targeted counseling of hospital pharmacists. The findings suggest the need to improve the consistency of the information covered when providing counseling, perhaps by the implementation of a counseling checklist for use by all disciplines of staff involved in patient counseling. The potential of community pharmacy follow-up medicines review is currently undermined by several barriers to uptake.