Curriculum · Counselling
Medication reconciliation
What it is and where it comes from
Maintaining and communicating accurate patient medication information is one of the goals of the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals program. Medication reconciliation is the part of that goal which is intended to identify and resolve discrepancies.
The process itself has three terms, not two: a clinician compares the medications a patient should be using, and the medications the patient is actually using, with the new medications that are ordered.
When it is required
For a patient admitted to the hospital the program requires medication reconciliation twice: both on admission and at the time of discharge. The case put on it is a 75-year-old admitted to the hospital, and the requirement is given for that patient at both points.
So it is not done one time only: admission and discharge are the two points given.