A prescription for safer care: medication reconciliation.

A Prescription for Safer Care: Medication Reconciliation Reducing medication-related errors is a priority for advancing safe, quality healthcare in Canada, and four national organizations are tackling it head on. Accreditation Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada released a report titled Medication Reconciliation in Canada: Raising the Bar. Medication reconciliation is a formal process of identifying a complete and accurate list of medications a patient is taking and using that list to provide correct medications for the patient at each transition of care. This new report identifies high-risk populations and effective approaches to medication reconciliation, as well as the challenges, trends and advances toward ensuring drug-related errors are avoided. Here are some of the insights found in the report: