Identification of priorities for improvement of medication safety in primary care: a PRIORITIZE study.
Medication errors remain a significant source of patient harm. Although many studies have focused on the hospital setting, less is known about ambulatory medication safety. In this study, primary care physicians were asked to identify three significant problems and solutions regarding medication errors in the outpatient setting. Investigators used an innovative approach to rank the problems and solutions described by the 113 clinician respondents in the study. The top three problems identified included incomplete medication reconciliation during a transition in care, insufficient education provided to patients on their medications, and inadequate discharge summaries. Standardizing discharge summaries, decreasing unnecessary prescribing, and avoiding polypharmacy were the three highest ranked solutions. A previous PSNet perspective discussed safety in ambulatory care.