Syfte med detta arbete var attbelysa den aktuella situationen i läkemedelsanvändningen på fyra äldreboende i mellersta Sverige. Studien utvisade, med hjälp av en enkät innehållande 27 frågor, skillnader i åtta sjuksköterskors kunskaper om läkemedel och prioritering av läkemedelsgenomgångar på arbetsplatserna. Granskningen visade även hur många läkemedel som användes genomsnittligt per boendeenhet, hur många fallolyckor som inträffade samt hur ofta och länge sjukhusvård behövdes under den sexmånader långa undersökningsperioden. Dessutom undersöktes om antalet läkemedel och antalet fallolyckor var relaterade till den omvårdnadsansvariga sjuksköterskans kunskaper om läkemedel. Antalet förskrivna läkemedel fanns tillgängliga med hjälp av Apotekens e-dos system. Omvård-nadsansvariga sjuksköterskor tillhandahöll sammanlagt 134 läkemedelslistor. Resultatet visade på basen av läkemedelslistorna på de fyra äldreboende att dessa låg på signifikant olika nivåer beträffande antalet genomsnittligt förskrivna läkemedel per enhet. Vidare skiljde sig sjuksköterskornas kunskaper om läkemedel för äldre åt och kunskaperna relaterade till prioriteringar av läkemedelsgenomgångar, användning av professionella hjälpmedel samt till vilja till utbildning på egen tid. Vidare hade äldreboenden olika antal fallolyckor och utnyttjade i olika grad sjukhusvård. Antal fallolyckor förklarades av antalet förskrivna läkemedel per boende per dag till 95,2 % och följaktligen antal sjukhusdagar förklarades med antal läkemedel per person per dag till 86,5 % men hjälp av linjär regression, modell Enter. Resultatet diskuterades utgående från Dorothea Orems omvårdnadsteori att den äldre har egenvårdsbehov i egen farmakologisk terapi men saknar egenvårdskapacitet i densamma, vilket innebär att sjuksköterskan har största ansvaret att tolka och förmedla patientens läkemedelsbehov.

Många äldre patienter har idag flera sjukdomar och många läkemedel eftersom detta är den vanligaste behandlingsformen. Med antal läkemedel ökar risken för läkemedelsbiverkningar samt sämre livskvalitet och välbefinnande för patienten. Läkemedelsgenomgångar är till för att se över vilka läkemedel patienten använder och varför dessa läkemedel är ordinerade. Även nyttan och risker för läkemedelsbiverkningar ses över. Syftet är att undersöka distriktssköterskans erfarenheter av läkemedelsgenomgångar hos äldre patienter inom den kommunala hälso- och sjukvården. För att uppnå syftet i denna studie har författarna använt sig av kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med halvstrukturerade intervjuer med sju distriktssköterskor och tre sjuksköterskor inom olika stadsdelar i en stad i Västra Götaland. Studien visar att distriktssköterskans erfarenheter av läkemedelsgenomgångar inom hemsjukvård och särskilda boenden är att det finns brister och hinder som kan påverka patientsäkerheten. Studien visar också att distriktssköterskor känner stort ansvar när det kommer till patientens läkemedelsanvändning, livskvalitet och välmående. Vidare saknas det ordentliga riktlinjer och ansvarsuppdelning vid läkemedelsgenomgångar. Studien visar även att ökad läkemedelsanvändning kan påverka miljö negativt samt att läkemedelsbiverkningar innebär onödiga kostnader för samhället och onödigt lidande för patienten.

Background: Multi-medication and potentially inappropriate medications are a problem among the elderly who live in retirement homes. Drug-related problems are a common cause of hospitalization among the elderly, but most of these problems can be prevented with the help of medication reviews. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how the execution of medication reviews takes place in retirement homes in four counties in southern Sweden.  Methods: A survey has been developed and sent to operations managers/head of units at 114 different retirement homes with a somatic focus in four counties in southern Sweden in two occasions: on 7 November and 20 November 2023. Descriptive statistics have been used to analyze data. Results: A total of 35 responses have been received which corresponds to a 31% response rate. Most of the retirement homes in these counties have stated that medication reviews are performed at least once a year. Regarding the participation of pharmacists, more than half of the retirement homes in two counties indicated that pharmacists participate in the performance of medication reviews, while in the other two counties none of the retirement homes stated that pharmacists participate.  In this study, the large retirement homes performed medication reviews to a greater extent than the small retirement homes.  Conclusion: Medication reviews are used in retirement homes. Larger retirement homes perform medication reviews to a greater extent than small retirement homes. Continued studies are needed to observe the effect of medication reviews and explain the differences between counties.

Background and Objective: Providing proper medication management of oral pharmaceutical dosage forms for patients with Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is a challenge, therefore this study was conducted to identify the need for pharmaceutical reviews in the context of PEG insertion and the need for medication review. The objective of this study was to identify patients who are on inappropriate medication for PEG insertion and what these medications are, by mapping the medication taken by patients before and after PEG insertion.  Method: A quantitative study with analysis of retrospective data. The project included 99 patients who had undergone a PEG surgery between 2017 and 2021, at one of the hospitals in Gävleborg.The study was conducted using data from Cyklop, a program that Region Gävleborg can use to produce statistics for health care. The statistical measures used to describe the data were mean, percent, 95% confidence interval and standard deviation. Setting: The hospital in Gävle.  Main outcome measures: The number of patients who remained on potentially inappropriate medications after the PEG insertion and the number of patients who received a changed medication list after the insertion. Results:  A total of 99 patients undergoing PEG surgery were included. The majority of the patients 56% (n = 55) remained on potentially inappropriate drugs after PEG, 27,3% (n = 27) of which had remained partially on inappropriate drugs and had some prescription changes after PEG.23.2% of the patients did not remain on potentially inappropriate drugs after PEG surgery because they received a modified medication list. Conclusions: The majority of patients were on inappropriate drugs after PEG. This demonstrates a problem that should be addressed within Region Gävleborg. The fact that a large proportion of patients were identified as being on inappropriate medication after PEG indicates the need for pharmacist reviews of medication as well as educational efforts for health care staff in the Region.

Läkare, sjuksköterskor, farmaceuter, patienter och patienters anhöriga är alla delar av den kedja som ska se till så att läkemedelsanvändning sker på ett säkert sätt. Så många inblandade och i så många olika sammanhang gör att läkemedelsanvändning kan vara svårt att hantera. 2014 skrevs det ut 102 913 130 recept i Sverige (1). Fram till 2014 hade ca 850 000 felaktiga recept korrigerats av farmaceuter varje år (2). Att korrigera recept är en nödvändig del som ingår i farmaceutens skyldighet och ansvar vilket regleras i svensk lagstiftning (3). Farmaceuten är en del av vårdkedjan som skall tillse att patienten har en korrekt och säker behandling med läkemedel (4). Tillgång till en nationell gemensam läkemedelslista för alla berörda parter, förskrivare, farmaceut, patient och övrig vårdpersonal skulle kanske kunna komma tillrätta med felaktigheter i förskrivningar och därmed öka patientsäkerheten (4). Tidigare studier har genomförts som behandlar läkarens syn på en gemensam lista och även patientens syn på eHälsoarbete vilket till viss del belyser en gemensam lista (5)(6) men inga studier har hittats om hur en gemensam lista kommer att påverka farmaceuternas vardag vilket ett av syftena med detta arbete har varit. För att uppnå syftet genomfördes en enkätundersökning med farmaceuter verksamma på ett antal apotek där de fick delge sina tankar både kring den information om patienters aktuella läkemedel som finns tillgänglig idag, bland annat genom receptdepån och sina tankar kring en nationell gemensam läkemedelslista. Resultat av undersökning gör gällande att det förekommer fel i receptdepån både med avseende på saknad information, felaktigheter i recept och att recept förekommer mer än en gång och att de finns med trots att patienten inte skall använda dem mer. Majoriteten av farmaceuterna var eniga om att en nationell gemensam läkemedelslista skulle hjälpa dem i deras arbete för att öka patientsäkerheten men huruvida den kommer att lösa alla problem som förekommer i receptdepån får framtiden utvisa. / Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, patients and next of kin are all parts of the chain that is needed to make sure that the use of medication is safe and appropriate for the patient. That many people involved and in many different settings can make the use of medication difficult to manage. In the year 2014 there were 102 913 130 prescriptions made out to patients in Sweden. Up to the year 2014 850 000 corrections had been made to prescriptions with faults in them by pharmacists each year. To correct prescriptions is an essential part of the pharmacist’s obligations and responsibility, a responsibility that is regulated in Swedish law. The pharmacist is the last part of the chain that has the possibility to adjust anything that is wrong with medications and the use of it before it is in the patient’s own hands. The access to a nationally shared medication list for all involved parties might solve some of the problems that faces the responsible parties when it comes to dealing with patients and their new and ongoing medications and in that way be able to increase the safety around mediation for the patient in need. Although the survey conducted as part of this paper focuses on pharmacists the background tries to explain in what way the different professions come in contact with medicines and how they would perhaps benefit from a shared list. The paper also tries to give a little insight to what kind of problems there could be related to prescriptions. In Sweden we have come a rather long way in the use of computers and the use of internet in the field of eHealth compared to other countries. The paper tries to show how the problem surrounding prescription of medicine is handled in the other countries of Scandinavia. Earlier studies have been conducted that looks at shared lists from the doctors view and also studies have been conducted that looks upon eHealth for patients partly in view of shared medication lists. No studies have been found that looks specifically at how pharmacists feel about it and how such a list would benefit them in their work to secure patient safety, hence this paper. In order to reach the papers purpose a survey was performed with pharmacists employed at different pharmacies in the southern part of Sweden. The result of the survey showed that there are indeed problems with prescriptions in the prescription repository and the majority of the pharmacists agreed that a shared medication list could help them in their work to secure patient safety when releasing prescribed medication. Although the pharmacist agreed for the most part in the benefits of such a list they did not know if it would solve all problems, which is for the future to decide.

Abstract [en] Title: Discrepancies in medication lists at hospital wards identified by medication reconciliation Authors: Anderberg M. Institute: Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Background and objective: An accurate medication list is essential for a correct assessment of a patient´s condition at hospitals. Previous studies have shown that patients in emergency departments often are affected by discrepancies in medication lists at hospital admission. Less research has been done regarding discrepancies after transferring patients to medical wards. The aim of this study was to identify discrepancies in the electronic medical record in hospital wards for patients admitted via the emergency department. Design: Observational study. Medication reconciliation was performed by a pharmacist shortly after the arrival of patients from the emergency department. This included a patient interview and the investigation of the patient’s medical record. The discrepancies identified at the wards were classified as either omitted drug, wrong dose, additional drug, incorrect frequency or duplicate therapy. Descriptive statistics were used and the proportion of medication lists with at least one discrepancy was presented with 95 % confidence interval. Setting: Three medical wards at Capio S:t Görans Hospital in Stockholm.  Main outcome measures: The proportion of medication lists with at least one discrepancy. The mean value of discrepancies among all patients. Classification and categorization of discrepancies regarding type and ATC index.  Results: In total, 63 patients were included with a mean age of 63 years. At least one discrepancy was identified in 43 % (95 % CI 31-55) of the medication lists. 52 discrepancies were found in total generating a mean value of 0,83 ± 1,17 discrepancies per medication list. The two most common categories were Omitted drug(33%) and Wrong dose(33%). The most frequent drug class associated with medication discrepancies was Drugs for obstructive airway diseases.  Conclusion: 43 % of the patients had at least one discrepancy in the medication list. This indicates the importance of medication reconciliations at medical wards even though the medication list has been updated at the emergency department.

Background: The purpose of drug treatment is to reduce morbidity and mortality, and to improve health-related quality of life. However, there are frequent problems associated with drug treatment, especially among the elderly. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the impact of clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team on quality and safety of patients’ drug therapy, and to study the frequency and nature of medication history errors on admission to hospital. Methods: A model for clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team (the Lund Integrated Medicines Management model, LIMM) was introduced in three hospital wards. On admission of patients to hospital, clinical pharmacists conducted medication reconciliation (i.e. identified the most accurate list of a patient’s current medications) to identify any errors in the hospital medication list. To identify, solve and prevent any other drug-related problems, the clinical pharmacists interviewed patients and performed medication reviews and monitoring of drug therapy. Drug-related problems were discussed within the multiprofessional team and the physicians adjusted the drug therapy as appropriate. Results: On admission to hospital, drug-related problems, such as low adherence to drug therapy and concerns about treatment, were identified. Different statistical approaches to present results from ordinal data on adherence and beliefs about medicines were suggested. Approximately half of the patients were affected by errors in the medication history at admission to hospital; patients who had many prescription drugs had a higher risk for errors. Medication reconciliation and review reduced the number of inappropriate medications and reduced drug-related hospital revisits. No impact on all-cause hospital revisits was demonstrated. Conclusion: Patients admitted to hospital are at high risk for being affected by medication history errors and there is a high potential to improve their drug therapy. By reducing medication history errors and improving medication appropriateness, clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team improve the quality and safety of patients’ drug therapy. The impact of routine implementation of medication reconciliation and review on healthcare visits will need further evaluation; the results from this thesis suggest that drug-related hospital revisits could be reduced. / Läkemedelsgenomgångar och läkemedelsavstämning - LIMM-modellen