SHBC1213

ESJ.BEK¹, ZY.CHUA², K.GRIVA², SJL.XU¹, ES.LEE³

National Healthcare Group Pharmacy¹, Nanyang Technological University², NHG Polyclinics³

Medication management challenges, such as discrepancies in medication lists, often arise when patients transit between care settings especially in the context of multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Although medication reconciliation services (MRS) implemented at discharge from tertiary healthcare settings have shown to reduce medication discrepancies, research on the efficacy of MRS conducted at the community level in reducing medication discrepancies is inconclusive. This study aimed to evaluate the existing MRS and explore how it can be improved from the perspective of various stakeholders

A qualitative methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with physicians, pharmacists, patients and caregivers of National Healthcare Group (NHG) Polyclinics. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used. This study is the first of a four-part study for the development and pilot of a new MRS to improve the medication management for patients

From 27 interviews, five main themes emerged: (1) enhanced healthcare services, (2) challenges in delivering MRS, (3) pre- and post-MRS issues, (4) barriers to scaling up MRS and (5) role definition of the pharmacist. These were comparable across healthcare providers and users with differences in sub-themes among the two groups

The current pharmacist-led MRS model enhanced healthcare delivery through reduced physician burden, increased health literacy in patients and caregivers and improving medication safety. Issues such as challenges in service delivery, logistical and resource constraints, limitations in current technology used and acceptability of the expanding role of pharmacists were uncovered. These findings serve as a guide to the subsequent phases for the development of the ideal MRS