Managing Medication History in Emergency Department

What are the barriers to BPMH?

• Cognitive impairment
• Communication barriers including language barrier
• Failure to bring medications , or medication products on ED visit
• Lack of education on how to conduct a BPMH by caregivers
• Lack of desire and interest to do create BPMH
• Multi facetted nature or fast -paced  nature of work load in ED on some days and staffing challenges

Why should I do patient teaching on patient's discharge from ED?

There are many times when a patient has a number of changes in her or his medications and ends up not being admitted to Acute care unit based on the;

• availability of beds on acute care unit at the time.
• the patient preferring to go home rather than stay in the hospital.
• improvement of patient's condition while in ED, warranting no need for admission.

In any of these cases, there is need for a BPMH while this patient is in ED and even more importantly patient's teaching on discharge regarding her new medications and the medications at home. Where possible, written instruction is the way to go to ensure not only understanding but compliance and adherence to medications as well.