Why is it important?
Medicines management is an essential part of high quality patient care in hospitals.
Through medication reviews, we can critically evaluate a patient’s medications and help optimise therapy and reduce the risk of adverse drug events. This can help avoid prolonged hospital stays, higher mortality rates and increased costs.
Given the complexity of drug therapies in use for IBD, it is important that an expert pharmacist in IBD is available for advice during the inpatient stay and at discharge.
Patients also need to be involved. Good medicine management before discharge only happens when patients get the appropriate level of (written and verbal) information and counselling. This should include information on the medicine itself, how it should be taken and any changes. Ideally, it should be offered in a variety of formats – written, audio-visual and web-based – and in language that the patient can understand.
Pharmaceutical discharge planning should start at admission by the ward pharmacy team, under the supervision of the expert pharmacist in IBD. Any changes should be communicated to the GP and the patient’s IBD team.