Member, Northern Health Medication Reconciliation Interprofessional Development Team

Are you interested in improving northerners’ medication safety when they are admitted to hospital and discharged home ? If so, you are invited to join the Medication Reconciliation Development Team.

Open to: Patient partners in the Northern region

Lead Organization or Department

Northern Health Regional Pharmacy

Aim

At Northern Health we are working to ensure that health care providers across the region partner with patients and caregivers to make sure that all medication lists are complete, accurate and up-to-date. This process is called Medication Reconciliation, or Med Rec. Med Rec creates a list that confirms all the medication a patient should be taking every time they move into, out of, or within our care. To achieve this, we are reviewing and supporting development of standards and supports to help practitioners implement Med Rec in all Northern Health facilities. Patient partners will be a part of the team developing, refining, and reviewing key resources and training aids to support site-level implementation of this process.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of consult on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will listen to and acknowledge your ideas and concerns, and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.

Eligibility

• Experience participating in a conversation about prescriptions, medication use and history, or potential interactions at a transition point (such as admission to hospital, discharge, or admission to a care facility)
• Comfort participating as a member of an interprofessional team consisting of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, health care leaders, and other care providers. This team consists of approximately 10 members.
• If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and Volunteer Agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact Anthony Gagne directly.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 2
• Next meeting will take place on Monday, November 6, at 10:30am
• Meetings occur monthly for 2 hours, and will be held in Prince George at the HSBC Building (299 Victoria St). Teleconference and/or webinar options are available for participants outside of Prince George.
• This engagement will run until late spring 2018.

Reimbursement

Any required costs will be covered as per Northern Health’s reimbursement policy.

Background

At Northern Health, we are working to ensure that healthcare providers across the region  partner with patients and caregivers to make sure that all medication lists are complete, accurate, and up-to-date.  We call this process Medication Reconciliation, or Med Rec.  Med Rec creates a list that confirms all the medication a patient should be taking every time they move into, out of, or within our care. Check this link for more information about medication reconciliation and patient’s involvement in medication safety. It is well documented that a system of Med Rec at transitions in care improves patient's medication safety. Northern Health leadership is supporting the implementation of a comprehensive Best Possible Medication History and Med Rec in all acute care and long-term care facilities. The implementation Development Team includes physicians, pharmacists, nurses and operational leadership. Patient partners can expect to engage in discussions with the Development Team on topics such as:

• How to increase awareness among persons and families/caregivers to ensure they are prepared at admission to have the information available and participate well in a Best Possible Medication History.
• How to develop a "culture of expectation" among all northerners to expect a Best Possible Medication History to be completed when admitted to hospitals or long term care facilities.
• How to inform and help northerners ask the right questions about their medications.
• How to develop systems including best methods/tools and appropriate screening that allow the patients and their families/caregivers to complete the Best Possible Medication History themselves with their Health Care Providers’ assistance.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Anthony Gagné
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Northern Interior
250.961.5156
agagne@bcpsqc.ca