PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Saurabh Shandilya
AU  - Khwaja Nizamuddin
AU  - Mohammad Waqar Faisal
AU  - Sajjad Noor
AU  - Sam Abraham
TI  - Omitted medications: a continuing problem
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.15-1-12
DP  - 2015 Feb 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 12--14
VI  - 15
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/15/1/12.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/15/1/12.full
SO  - Clin Med2015 Feb 01; 15
AB  - Failure to provide prescribed medicines to inpatients has the potential to cause significant patient harm, to delay the resolution of the pathology and to increase the length of hospital stay. We measured the frequency at which medications were omitted in the non-admitting medical wards of a district general hospital, using two point-prevalence studies spaced one month apart. The results showed that the omission of prescribed medications remains a problem throughout the hospital stay of the patient. Among the charts studied, 73% had omitted medications. The most common cause of omission was patients’ refusal (47.22%), followed by patients’ inability to take the medicine (22.7%). Medication unavailability came third (17.04%). Increased communication between medical, nursing and pharmacy staff, along with regular review of the patients by the patient team, with a view of reducing medication omission will go a long way in reducing the incidence of this problem.