HSN launches pilot program to help manage prescriptions

Health Sciences North has teamed up with five Shoppers Drug Mart locations in Greater Sudbury to avoid medication-based errors when patients are discharged from hospital.

Problems with medications is one of the most common reasons patients are readmitted to hospital after being discharged, said Health Sciences North.

“Patients often aren’t sure what the proper dosage should be, and medications prescribed by various doctors, either in the community or at the hospital, can counteract each other,” the hospital continued in a press release.

“We wanted to launch this pilot project because we know that when health care providers communicate better with each about the medications being given to patients, we can avoid some of the problems those patients are facing with their prescriptions,” said Wilf Steer, the hospital’s lead pharmacist on the pilot project, in a press release.

Under the pilot project, patients who are being discharged from the hospital will be advised to have a consultation with their Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacist to discuss all the medications they are currently taking, in addition to new medications prescribed by the care team at Health Sciences North.

The hospital will contact the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacist for a consultation on the patient’s medication to ensure correct dosages and avoid any potential negative interactions between the medications.

For patients who are unable to come to the Shopper’s Drug Mart location, due to weakness or mobility challenges, the pharmacist can visit the patient’s home to provide this consultation.

More than 40 per cent of adults with one chronic health condition reported not receiving appropriate management of their medications, according to a 2012 study by Accreditation Canada, the Canadian Institute of Health Information, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada.

The same study found 63 per cent of seniors reported using five or more drugs; and 23 per cent reported using 10 or more.

Twenty per cent of patients discharged from acute care facilities experienced an adverse event, and of those, 66 per cent were drug-related. The total cost of preventable, drug-related hospitalizations is estimated at $2.6 billion per year.

The five Shoppers Drug Mart locations participating in the pilot project are: 2015 Long Lake Rd.; 1349 Lasalle Blvd.; 86 Elm St.; 1935 Paris St.; and 359 Riverside Dr.