Improving communication with community pharmacists at patient discharge : a mixed methods study

Details

Supervisors

Larock, Anne-Sophie ; Sennesael, Anne-Laure

Faculty

Faculté de pharmacie et des sciences biomédicales

Degree label

Master de spécialisation en pharmacie hospitalière

Abstract

Background : Improving communication with community pharmacists (CPs) is essential to secure transition of care. Projects are emerging but hospital physicians (HPs) are rarely involved in this transmission of information. Currently, no information is provided to CP by the HP at patient discharge in CHU UCL Namur. Objectives : The primary objective of this study was to determine the perception of HPs towards keeping CPs informed about treatment changes at patient discharge. The secondary objectives of this study were to determine the content of the information to be transmitted to the CPs, the way to ensure this transmission and to identify potential barriers to this communication with ways to improve the process. Methods : A mixed methods study composed of a survey for HPs and multidisciplinary focus group (FGs) and interviews (ITWs) was performed. Results : Eighty-eight HPs answered the survey. Eighty-nine percent thought that it would be useful to keep the CP informed of changes in treatment and 66% said that it is possible in their current practices. FGs and ITWs confirmed that and gave arguments to keep the CP informed. FGs and ITWs also permitted to isolate administrative, medical and medication data needing to be shared with CPs. Having admission treatment, discharge treatment and reasons of change on the discharge report were the most crucial points. Different ways to keep the CP informed (computerized or not) were compared. Time and administrative workload were identified as main barriers to the implementation, with automation as a critical point. Conclusion : This study showed that HPs can be actors in the communication with CPs and provided a prototype of a discharge report with different possibilities of communication. Barriers to the implementation of such a project have been isolated with different ways to overcome them.