The Impact of Completing Medication Reconciliation and Depression Treatment History in an Outpatient Depression Clinic

Objectives

To enhance depression care by improving medication information available prior to initial patient consultations.

Experimental Design and Sample

Single-center, with intervention delivered to all new patient referrals at a tertiary care depression clinic. Trained pharmacy students utilizing a standard script prior to the first consultation visit conducted a medication review and depression treatment telephone assessment.

Results

From 225 individuals contacted once by phone in the week prior to scheduled initial consultation, 141 (62.7%) were reached and 113 (50.2%) completed the full phone assessment. An average of 4–5 medication discrepancies were identified per respondent, of which one-third were considered potentially clinically significant and more than 96% of patients having at least one reported discrepancy. Individuals who completed the call were also more likely to attend the initial consultation. In the medical record, 55 of the 106 (51.9%) pharmacy notes were incorporated in the clinical assessment note. On survey, clinicians reported that access to the pharmacy note saved clinician time, with all prescribing clinicians indicating the pharmacy note significantly influenced subsequent medication recommendations.

Conclusions

Telephone assessments conducted by pharmacy students prior to an initial depression clinic consultation was associated with higher consultation attendance, identified a large number of medication discrepancies, were successfully reviewed and received by clinicians, potentially saved clinician time, and influenced subsequent medication prescribing.