Sammanfattning
Background: Healthcare personnel can have different understandings of what constitutes a safe and appropriate medication management process, from requisition of the medication until it is dispensed to the patient. This can lead to medication management errors. Best practice standards therefore need to be developed for medication management.
Objective: The objective of the study was to illuminate various practical challenges and risk areas in medication management in nursing homes and the community nursing service. We also wanted to build a consensus for detailed solutions to address these challenges and risk areas.
Method: We used the Delphi method and carried out three rounds of Questback questionnaires to collect data. Respondents were asked about the extent to which they agreed with statements relating to medication management using a five-point Likert scale. IBM SPSS was used to analyse the quantitative data. In order to calculate the degree of consensus, we used descriptive statistics with an interquartile range (IQR) <1 as a threshold for consensus. We also collected qualitative data from open-ended questions in the questionnaires. These data were analysed using the Framework method.
Results: The study encompassed 54, 46 and 43 participants in the three rounds respectively, made up of nurses and social educators from 17 municipalities and regulatory pharmacists from a pharmacy in the region. We established a consensus for 77 standards for best practice in medication management.
Conclusion: The consensus-based standards for best practice in medication management in the nursing and care service that were developed in this study may represent an important contribution to safeguarding quality in medication management.