Accuracy of patient medications in GP referrals

For patients attending the Emergency Department (ED) the GP referral letter provides important information for the ED physician, who is expected to assess and treat patients within 10 minutes to 2 hours of their arrival depending on the patients acuity.

A 2008 Australian study found 87% of GP referrals had one or more discrepancy in the patients’ regular medications and 62% had one or more regular medication discrepancy of moderate to high significance.

We sought to quantify the medication discrepancies for patients presenting to North West Regional Hospital (NWRH) ED, with the overall objective of increasing awareness of potential errors.