Alderwood Rest Home
Brenda Nicholson, Director of Resident Care
Who We Are:• 70 bed facility• We provide care to residents who require
level 1 and 2 care• 70% of admissions per year(last year)• Population served approx.150,000 primarily
rural residential elderly clients in Cape Breton
AIM Statement
• To decrease the potential for medication discrepancies to zero on admission and during transfer from hospital
Team Members• Administrator, RNs, LPNs, Pharmasist,
Physician, Dietician and Director of Care
• Crucial in making med rec successful at Alderwood was the nurse coordinator, Pharmacist and Director of Care
Change Ideas• Using multiple sources for data collection
– MARs, medical status report, sometimes pharmacy and family. Depending if the person is being admitted from home, hospital or another LTC home.
– Start BPMH before the person arrives
Change Ideas• Use BPMH to get admission orders
• Add forms to admission package
Change Idea: Combined Form
Results• At baseline we exceeded 6
discrepancies per resident admission
• The last 4 admissions had ZERO discrepancies!
Lessons Learned• Physicians & nursing staff to be on board
• Surprised at the number of discrepancies on admission
• Quickly decreased the number of discrepancies but it took 8 months to reach goal
• It is valuable to measure and use results to improve the reconciliation process
Challenges• Data entry was definitely a challenge for
us at Alderwood.• Some Physician/Nurses were and are
frustrated with the process and more so in acute care, as this is where we often see most of our potential errors.
• Prescribing physician often not family physician
Currently• Nursing staff are starting to see the
benefits of the BPMH:– it is time consuming prior to admission– preventing discrepancies/errors and rework
Next Steps• Work with DoCs to standardize routine
med protocols
• Reconcile medication on discharge
• Need to consider appropriateness of medication
Thank you!Contact Information:
Brenda Nicholson
Alderwood Rest Home
Baddeck , Nova Scotia
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 902 295-2644