Prescribers hospital discharge prescriptions

Pharmacy refill records can be a valuable source for assessing what the patient is prescribed and how often the patient refills the prescriptions. Clarification of medication usage should be verified by refill records in your practice setting or by contacting pharmacies that the patient uses. Inpatient pharmacists can provide valuable patient information to the outpatient or retail pharmacists upon hospital discharge. This can prevent duplication and medication errors. 

The patient fails to obtain the medication. Some studies suggest that one third of patients never have their prescriptions filled. Some patients leave the hospital without obtaining their discharge medications, whereas others leave the hospital without having their prehospitalization medications resumed. Some patients cannot afford the medications prescribed. 

This example is similar to Example 3.3 in Section 3.5.2, the difference being that instead of the item being prescribed by a GP on a standard FP10 NHS prescription form, the item has been prescribed as a TTO for a patient who is being discharged from a hospital ward. Note the differences between the dispensing process for this example and Example 3.3. 

Clinicians must deal with more than 10,000 prescription medications. One-third of adults in the United States take five or more medications. Patients admitted to a hospital commonly receive new medications or incur changes to their existing medications. Hospital-based clinicians also may not access a patient s complete medication list or remain unaware of recent medication changes. As a result, the new medication regimen prescribed at the time of discharge may inadvertently omit needed... 

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