UBC to bring together healthcare students and professionals at seventh annual Medication Reconciliation Interprofessional event (IP MedRec)
On Thursday, March 29, 2018, over 750 students from UBC pharmacy, medicine, and nurse practitioners, together with nursing students from the University of Northern BC, UBC-Okanagan, University of Victoria, Langara College and Kwantlen University will participate in the seventh annual Interprofessional Medication Reconciliation event (IP MedRec). Practicing pharmacists will also participate remotely from community and hospital sites in Victoria, Kelowna, and Prince George.
“Medication reconciliation is a formal process by which members of a patient’s multidisciplinary health care team collaborate with patients and their families to identify and communicate a complete list of medications that patient is taking, as they proceed through transitions of care (admission, transfer, discharge and residential care). Medication reconciliation has been shown to reduce medication errors and improve patient safety,” says Dr. Judith Soon, chair of the IP MedRec event and assistant professor, UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The IP MedRec event has proved tremendously popular in the seven years since it’s inception and continues to expand. This year, for the first time, the curriculum will include not only admission and discharge medication reconciliation content, but also content which addresses subsequent transition to a Residential Care facility. This will equip participants with an understanding of the importance of heathcare professional and community support follow-up after discharge from hospital.
The 2018 program will also include a mandatory safe medication order component designed by UBC Medicine in which participants will learn how to mitigate risks related to prescription writing errors.
“Interprofessional collaboration is crucial for the safety of patients as they move from hospitals back home or to nursing homes,” explains Dr. Malcolm Maclure, BC Academic Chair in Patient Safety and professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at UBC. “Over 60% of long-term care residents are taking ten or more medications. Over 25% are taking 15 or more. Medical, nursing and pharmacy students need to learn to work together on medication reconciliation and review.”
“This event highlights the important role of nursing at admissions, coordination of care and at discharge. Our nursing students will be better prepared to improve medication safety working with medicine and pharmacy in a team-based educational environment,” says Janine Lennox, assistant chair, curriculum, Langara College School of Nursing.
The 2018 Interprofessional Medication Reconciliation event is co-coordinated by UBC Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty members Dr. Judith Soon, Parkash Ragsdale, and Drs. Arun Verma and Dan Martinusen; UBC Faculty of Medicine members Drs. Joana Gil-Mohapel, Sarah Brears, Mark Fok, and Malcolm Maclure; and UBC School of Nursing Nurse Practitioner Program faculty Fairleth McCuaig. Facilitation at the UBC site will be by Drs. Dan Martinusen, Malcolm Maclure and Mark Fok. At the distributed sites, facilitation will be provided by Dr. Richard Bachand (Vancouver Island Health Authority) and Dr. Sam Stewart (Island Medical Program) in Victoria, Robert Pammett (Northern Health Authority) and Dr. Catharine Textor (Northern Medical Program) in Prince George, as well as pharmacists Cristi Froyman and Cam Bonell and Dr. Sheila Fergusson (Southern Medical Program) in Kelowna. Also involved are Jennifer MacMillan, Nicole Wells, and Nawal Lasfar in the Dean's Office, UBC Faculty of Medicine.
“As the medication expert, the pharmacist is a key member in the process of medication reconciliation. This event trains our student pharmacists and practicing pharmacists how to work with medicine and nursing and achieve quality medication reconciliation at transitions in care.” says Parkash Ragsdale, UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Practice Innovation in Primary Care.
The 2018 IP MedRec Event logistics and registration was facilitated by UBC Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine.