Medication details documented on hospital discharge: cross-sectional observational study of factors associated with medication non-reconciliation.

Aims: Movement into or out of hospital is a vulnerable period for medication safety. Reconciling the medication a patient is using before admission with the medication prescribed on discharge, and documenting any changes (medication reconciliation) is recommended to improve safety. The aims of the study were to investigate the factors contributing to medication reconciliation on discharge, and identify the prevalence of non-reconciliation.

Cross-cultural validation of the desire for information about prescribed medicines scale.

Objectives: It is the overall aim of this study to validate an existing scale to measure patients' desire for information about their medicines in the geographically and culturally disparate context of the USA. Specific objectives are to determine the psychometric properties of the previously validated Extent of Information Desired (EID) and Perceived Utility of Medicines (PUM) scales and to describe the complexities inherent to cross-cultural validation.

Methods: The setting was a culturally diverse tri-county (Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade counties) area of South Florida.