For a complete list of accreditations for this course, please see the accreditation information box below the author’s bio. All states (with the exception of Hawaii) recognize our courses for accredited continuing nursing education, CNE, contact hours.
Medication safety has always had strong implications on nursing practice standards. In today’s healthcare environment the impact is greater than ever before. The large number of medication classes is astounding. Maintaining current knowledge of all of these medications along with dosing recommendations, multiple forms, and applications for use can be intimidating for nurses as well as patients. Additionally, there are many patients who live with two or more chronic diseases for which multiple medications may be necessary for adequate disease management and to maintain quality of life. Use of multiple medications (otherwise known as poly-pharmacy) and their potential interactions, along with multiple medication forms, dosing and similar sounding names only complicate the process. Each of these considerations has a huge impact on medication administration safety and can certainly become a barrier to safe practice standards.
The other major factor to consider is the continuum of healthcare environments. Medication safety must be ensured, standards maintained through all care pathways, and settings the patient may pass through. This includes physician offices, ambulatory and long term care, home care and the acute care setting. Collaborative medication reconciliation is a mandatory component of the medication administration process. The nurse is integral in managing the process across care settings and disciplines.
This course provides a reintroduction to the purpose of the medication reconciliation process as well as step by step approach to completing the process. This benefits nurses in all areas of practice.