Pharmacy checklist for discharge of palliative patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A service improvement project to develop and pilot a pharmacy checklist, for discharge of patients with complex palliative care needs, when transferring care of the palliative patient across the interface from the acute hospital setting into the community
IRAS ID
228603
Contact name
Aileen McKenna
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Reference number for School of Pharmacy, 015PMY2017
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
In 2016 Macmillan Cancer Support provided funding for a new Northern Ireland palliative care service improvement pharmacy initiative. One aim of the initiative is to improve communication between hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists, regarding patient’s medicine requirements, when someone is discharged from hospital. Currently, information is only passed to a patient’s preferred community pharmacy (the community pharmacy that you usually use) if the hospital pharmacist feels that it is necessary and there are no standardised criteria for when they are contacted. It is good practice to review a patient’s medication on discharge and a checklist has been recognised as a good way to ensure this happens.
It is hoped that by carrying out this study we will be able to develop a user friendly checklist for use by hospital pharmacists. The checklist will contain standardised criteria for when the community pharmacist should be contacted. We also want to determine if the checklist improves handover of care from the perspective of the community pharmacist by asking them to complete a short telephone questionnaire.
The study will be conducted in Antrim Area Hospital (Northern Health and Social Care Trust) over twelve weeks. Patients will be eligible if they are an inpatient in Antrim Area Hospital (the pilot will be conducted in two designated wards), had a referral to the Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team and have complex needs with regards to their medication.
Ten to twenty patients will be followed up before or after the checklist is introduced (Total maximum 40 participants). Patients who meet the inclusion criteria will be given a “Participant Information Leaflet” and asked to sign the consent form if they wish to participate. The participants community pharmacy will be contacted by telephone and asked to complete a questionnaire seven to ten days after they are discharged from hospital.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
17/NI/0243
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion