ICU Medication Reconciliation

Wayne Sparkes, Senior Project Administrator, Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Hospital, Baltimore, MD, describes Hopkins’ Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program. CUSP provides the framework for projects focused on patient safety and enhances the understanding and development of a culture of safety. Specifically he reviews the ICU Medication Reconciliation project: the comparison of pre-hospital medication lists, newly prescribed ICU medication lists and transfer orders. This system catches and corrects discrepancies from the omission of pre-hospital beta-blockers or cardiac medications to wrong dosages or frequencies on transfer. Using this system, Hopkins has decreased potential transfer med errors to nearly 0%.