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RESP 480: Project Planning Annotated Bibliography Article: ASHP (n.d.). ASHP Statement on
RESP 480: Project Planning
Annotated Bibliography
Article: ASHP (n.d.). ASHP Statement on the Pharmacist’s Role in Medication Reconciliation Position: https://www.ashp.org/-/media/assets/policy- guidelines/docs/statements/pharmacists-role-medication-reconciliation.pdf
Type of Article
This is a Position statement.
Synopsis
This quote by the ASHP, which is the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, stresses how medication reconciliation helps in reducing errors and improving safe medication use. It encourages pharmacists to take a lead role in multidisciplinary initiatives that include the establishment and maintenance of efficient medication reconciliation systems in hospitals and healthcare systems. The mentioned statement underlines pharmacists’ responsibilities in various operational aspects of medication reconciliation, e.g., policy development, implementation, training, information systems development, and advocacy.
Validity
ASHP, a well-known organization in the area of pharmacy practice and healthcare, has issued this letter. It uses the literature evidence, data analysis, and joint actions of ASHP and other professional organizations to back up its arguments. Although there are no findings from research data, it is an integration of best practices and expert consensus for medication reconciliation.
Applicability towards project
This article then becomes highly applicable to the project’s target of improving discharge/post-discharge procedures for patients at heightened risk of readmissions. Pharmacists are at the heart of medication reconciliation. They ensure that patients have the right and complete medication information during the transfer of care. Through adhering to the ASHP recommendations, pharmacists are given a chance to spearhead programs that promote patient safety and medication reconciliation, thus lowering readmission rates. This involves developing policies, adopting evidence-based measures, training healthcare workers, and prodding for medicine reconciliation programs at the community level. Including these recommendations in our proposed Wellness Check program can make the program much more effective and help in reaching the project goal.
Citation
Costello, J., Barras, M., Foot, H., & Cottrell, N. (2023): The impact of hospital-based post- discharge pharmacist medication review on patient clinical outcomes: A systematic review. Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy, 11, 100305–100305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcsop.2023.100305
Type of Article
This article presents a systematic review that looks into the effect of HBPD pharmacist-based medication review on PCOAL whose clinical status was measured. The review evaluates the other studies in terms of research quality to provide evidence-based recommendations for this strategy.
Synopsis of Article
A meta-analysis is done on 57 of the studies that included both random control experiments and uncontrolled experiments to establish the effect of post-discharge pharmaceutics” review on the patient outcomes. General post-discharge clinic programs had been split into three kinds, with different pharmacists’ activities. The results were captured in terms of unplanned readmissions and/or representation, adverse events, and clinical outcomes for Warner-Agodoa and Hudson River, which are 0.9 (1.0 males and 0.8 females), respectively. The review showed that hospital discharge pharmacist intervention enabled strengthening patient care in the course of the same episode and, possibly, improved the clinical outcomes, such as reducing the rate of hospital readmissions. Though the involvement/ activities of the pharmacists were diverse in nature, it was difficult to draw concrete connections between the intervention endpoints and the outcome indicators.
Validity of Article:’
Strengths: This article presents the summary of the research work on discharge pharmacist’s medical review as well as a few studies conducted with different methodologies. It is very imperative to demonstrate the vital role of pharmacist involvement in bettering the outcomes of patients.
Limitations: The analysis confirms the fact that the included studies are based on different processes and results and are therefore difficult to harmonize and get a definite conclusion. Moreover, the heterogeneity of reporting formats of drugstore work in these papers is another challenge while comparing the outcomes.
Applicability towards project
This article highlights how pharmacists can help with the hospital discharge plan and post-discharge practice and the program’s bigger objective of Wellness Check. The main idea is the performance of drugstore interventions to improve patient outcomes and decrease readmission rates to the hospital. The finding demonstrates that medication reviews may be included and dispensed based on the pharmacist leadership with a follow-up plan, and this will improve discharge quality and reduce readmissions among high-risk populations.
Citation
Lussier, M. E., Evans, H. J., Wright, E. A., & Gionfriddo, M. R. (2020): The impact of community pharmacist involvement on transitions of care: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 60(1), 153-162.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2019.07.002
Type of Article
This article is a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synopsis:
This article synthesizes a systematic review and meta-analysis that assesses community pharmacist participation in care transitions, especially on 30-day hospital readmissions. The review focused on 39 articles describing 36 different studies, a part of which contributed to the first outcome of 30-day readmission. The analysis did not find a statistically significant reduction in 30-day readmissions related to community pharmacist participation in the transition of care. While applying the per protocol data, there was indeed a pronounced decrease in the number of readmissions. Results, where community pharmacists have more involvement, showed a higher effect on readmissions than those with less involvement of community pharmacists.
Validity:
The article was based on a systematic review and meta-analysis, which are considered to be strong ways of combining evidence. The study conducted an extensive search in databases as well as used various study designs which made the study to be more informative and valid. But the authors point at weaknesses like heterogeneity and imprecision which may lower the confidence in their findings.
Applicability towards the project:
This article gives useful suggestions to pharmacists who are doing transition of care programs such as post-discharge Wellness Checks. It brings out the impact that a pharmacist can have in reducing 30-day readmissions with particular emphasis on active involvement. This information can be utilized by pharmacists to champion the role of pharmacists in improving discharge and post-discharge practices, thus meeting the goal of the project to enhance hospital practices for high-risk readmission.
Citation
Yahya, F., Nazar, H., & Muhammad Abdul Hadi. (2022). Role of primary care pharmacists in the post-hospital discharge care of patients: a scoping review protocol. Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-022-00473-5
Synopsis of Article
This scoping review protocol is meant to look into the place of primary care pharmacists in post-hospital discharge care. The study will apply the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology to research databases looking for studies that implemented pharmacist-led primary care interventions after hospital discharges. The aim is to develop an overview of existing evidence, diagnose insufficiencies, and suggest directions for further research to aid the transition from hospital to home.
Validity of Article
Strengths: The protocol describes the established methodology for reviewing the role of pharmacist in primary care in the post-hospital discharge, which underlines the systematic approach. The research aims to fill a gap in the existing literature concerning the role of primary care pharmacists in this particular aspect of care transition. Limitations: As a protocol for a scoping review, this article does not have empirical data but rather lays out the plan of the methodology. Furthermore, the credibility of the review will be determined by how many and what types of studies were identified during the search process.
Applicability towards project
This is very relevant to the project objective related to optimizing discharge/post-discharge practices, particularly in medication safety during transitions of care. The role of primary care pharmacists in post-hospital discharge care can help build interventions to improve medication management and readmissions of high-risk patients.

