Authors (including presenting author) :
LI WY, CHAN YH, LEE WH, MAK CF, WONG C, WONG CY, WONG HM, FAN SY, LEUNG SYM
Affiliation :
Department of Pharmacy, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Introduction :
Hospitalisation and subsequent discharge home often involve changes in medication. Pharmacist discharge counseling service has been implemented in PYNEH, with one of its objective is to enhance patients’ awareness and management of their medications. Pharmacists would provide in-depth counseling to inpatients obtaining discharge medications.
Objectives :
The objective of this patient satisfaction survey was to assess patient satisfaction with the discharge counseling service provided by pharmacists.
Methodology :
This survey was carried out during 1/6/2018-31/7/2018 in PYNEH. Patients who were discharged from inpatient wards were invited to participate in the survey. Patients would be excluded if they refused to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire, conducted by trained volunteers, composed of two sections, pre-counseling and post-counseling sections. Pre-counseling questionnaires measured patient satisfaction on drug information provided by healthcare professionals at wards. The post-counseling questionnaires were compared to the pre-counseling ones for improvements of patient satisfaction in drug information after pharmacist discharge counseling service.
Result & Outcome :
One hundred and twenty-two patients completed the questionnaire, with whom 25 patients did not receive medication counseling at ward. After receiving post-counseling by pharmacists, a dramatic increase was seen in the percentage of patients (N=97) who understood their medications, including 1) indications (99% vs 78%), 2) administration method (99% vs 67%), 3) side effects and its management (70% vs 30%), and 4) precautions (79% vs 33%) after receiving pharmacist discharge counseling. When compared to pre-counseling questionnaires, more patients considered the information provided by pharmacists adequate (97% vs 75%) and very useful (92% vs 65%). In addition, patients gave a median score of 9 (Interquartile range 8-10) out of 10 for pharmacist discharge counseling service. Ninety-four percent of the patients would recommend the service to their friends or family members. All patients wish to receive pharmacist discharge counseling service if they were admitted and subsequently discharge home again.
Discharge counseling provided by pharmacists had improved patient satisfaction and knowledge on medication management. A corporate Drug Refill Service was also implemented in PYNEH in 4Q2018 to further enhance high-risk patients’ drug compliance and safety between medical consultations and hospitalisations. We believed the promising result of this survey suggested Drug Refill Service could have a positive impact on patient satisfaction and their knowledge on medication management.
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