Slide Presentation of the 2007 Annual Meeting of AHRQ

JCAHO Definition of Med Reconciliation

• The process of comparing a patient's medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking.
• This reconciliation is done to avoid medication errors such as omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or drug interactions.
• It should be done at every transition of care in which new medications are ordered or existing orders are rewritten.
• Transitions in care include changes in setting, service, practitioner or level of care.

Notes:

Due to the lack of reliability of the medical record as an accurate source of medication history, many groups advocate computerized medication profiles and physician order entry.