Medication Discrepancies in Discharge Summaries and Associated Risk Factors for Elderly Patients with Many Drugs

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Elderly patients are at high risk for medication errors in care transitions. The discharge summary aims to counteract drug-related problems due to insufficient information transfer in care transitions, hence the accuracy of its medication information is of utmost importance. The purpose of this study was to describe the medication discrepancy rate and associated risk factors in discharge summaries for elderly patients. METHODS: Pharmacists collected random samples of discharge summaries from ten hospitals in southern Sweden. Medication discrepancies, organisational, and patient- and care-specific factors were noted. Patients aged ≥ 75 years with five or more drugs were further included. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Discharge summaries for a total of 933 patients were included. Average age was 83.1 years, and 515 patients (55%) were women. Medication discrepancies were noted for 353 patients (38%) (mean 0.87 discrepancies per discharged patient, 95% confidence interval 0.76-0.98). Unintentional addition of a drug was the most common discrepancy type. Central nervous system drugs/analgesics were most commonly affected. Major risk factors for the presence of discrepancies were multi-dose drug dispensing (adjusted odds ratio 3.42, 95% confidence interval 2.48-4.74), an increasing number of drugs in the discharge summary (adjusted odds ratio 1.09, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.13) and discharge from departments of surgery (adjusted odds ratio 2.96, 95% confidence interval 1.55-5.66). By contrast, an increasing number of drug changes reduced the odds of a discrepancy (adjusted odds ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.88-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Medication discrepancies were common. In addition, we identified certain circumstances in which greater vigilance may be of considerable value for increased medication safety for elderly patients in care transitions.