Assessment of pharmacy technician medication history accuracy following clinical competency implementation

PURPOSE: Obtaining the most accurate admission medication history is paramount to ensure patient safety with medication reconciliation across the continuum of care during hospitalization. The purpose of this performance improvement initiative was to assess the accuracy of pharmacy technician home medication history collection at a large community medical center following clinical competency education. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted using a sample of adult patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) over an 8-month period. Data analysis was grouped into 2 phases. Phase I data represented the 4 months before implementation of clinical competency education (May 2023 through August 2023). Phase II data represented the 4 months after competency program implementation (September2023 through December 2023). Data points collected were patient age and gender, discrepancy type, total number of discrepancies, total number of discrepancies in high-risk medication categories, information sources utilized by the pharmacy technician, and total number of home medications. RESULTS: ED pharmacy technician home medication history collection accuracy increased from 53% to 79%. The increase in home medication history collection accuracy resulted in a decrease in discrepancies. CONCLUSION: Implementation of medication history clinical competency education for pharmacy technicians resulted in fewer discrepancies and improved accuracy prior to pharmacist review. The results of this study may help other institutions improve home medication history collection accuracy by implementing targeted education to increase pharmacy technician clinical knowledge.