Teaching medication reconciliation through simulation: A patient safety initiative for second year medical students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Errors in medication reconciliation constitute a large area of potential injury to patients. Medication reconciliation is rarely incorporated into medical school curriculums so students learn primarily from observing clinical care. AIM: To design and implement an interactive learning exercise to teach second year medical students about medication reconciliation SETTING: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Medication Reconciliation Simulation teaches medical students how to elicit information from active real-world sources to reconcile a medication history. PROGRAM EVALUATION: At the conclusion of the session, students completed a Likert scale survey rating the level of improvement in their knowledge and comfort in obtaining medication histories. Students rated their knowledge level as having increased by 27% and their comfort level as having increased by 20%. A full 91% of the 158 students felt that it should be performed again for the following medical student class. DISCUSSION: The Medication Reconciliation Simulation is the first to specifically target medication reconciliation as a curriculum topic for medical students. Students praised the entertaining simulation and felt it provided a very meaningful experience on the patient safety topic. This simulation is generalizable to other institutions interested in teaching medication reconciliation and improving medication safety. © 2008 Society of General Internal Medicine.