Case Study: MedsTracker improves home medication lists, patient safety for Myrtue Medical Center
“We lacked a consistent, organized way to document and accurately list patients’ home medications, which resulted in admission and discharge ordering errors.”
Problem
Myrtue Medical Center, as a recently integrated health care facility, incorporated several independent outpatient clinics and began operating as a critical access hospital in 2005.
At that time, reconciliation was a manual process. Nursing typed in a home medication list at admission, doctors added written orders, and pharmacy reviewed and compared the lists. Two incidents occurred that put the need for more sophisticated reconciliation into sharp focus. Each involved a nursing home patient’s home medication (one a thyroid medication and one a beta-blocker) missed on both admission and discharge.
“We desperately needed a comprehensive, longitudinal solution,” said Tom Tremmel, pharmacy director for the medical center.
Preparing to have a meeting to “try to decide how we were going to attack this thing,” Tom ran across the Design Clinicals’ Web site and was instantly intrigued. After bringing in several companies for product demonstrations, Myrtue chose MedsTracker by Design Clinicals. “In viewing Web demos there were obviously things in all the products that we either needed or wanted,” Tom said. “What impressed us was Design Clinicals’ ability to truly customize the solution. We wanted input into our program. Design Clinicals was willing to tailor a set-up that would give us exactly what we were looking for.”
Solution
Founder and designer Dewey Howell, MD, PhD, met personally with the medical staff at Myrtue. “It gave great credibility to the project and got them engaged,” said Tom. “It made a huge difference to have the doctors involved.”
Unlike most software installations, Myrtue’s doctors, nurses, IT and pharmacy staff worked directly with the owners, designers and officers of Design Clinicals, ensuring Myrtue’s needs and concerns were heard and addressed. “It was a very intimate working relationship,” Tom said. “The team was highly accessible and it went very smoothly.”
Results
Results were dramatic. Within six weeks, 100 percent of discharges were fully reconciled using MedsTracker. The hospital has documented reduced errors through integrated safety alerts, and a reduction in calls to prescribers for clarification and questions about orders. Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey scores for discharge (encompassing 1. Extent you felt ready for discharge, 2. Speed of the discharge process, and 3. Instructions for care at home) have risen 30 points since MedsTracker was implemented in May, 2008.
In early 2010, Myrtue officially turned off all paper reconciling, with 100 percent of physicians now on board with MedsTracker. Medication reconciliation discharge times at Myrtue average less than three minutes.
“Our physicians are very pleased with MedsTracker,” said Tom.
“If anything, they would have been happier to have made this switch even sooner.”
