Publications by authors named "Mary K Belfrage"
Aim: To assess continuity of medication management during transition from hospital to residential care facilities (RCFs).
Method: Telephone interviews with RCF staff were performed 24 hours after patient transfer to determine the proportion of patients with: missed or significantly delayed doses; RCF medication chart not written/updated in time for the first dose; suitably packed medications not available for the first dose; and RCF medication chart written/updated by a locum doctor. Retrospective audit was used to identify discharge summary discrepancies.
Objectives: To test the impact of a hospital pharmacist-prepared interim residential care medication administration chart (IRCMAC) on medication administration errors and use of locum medical services after discharge from hospital to residential care.
Design: Prospective pre-intervention and post-intervention study.
Setting: One major acute care hospital and one subacute aged-care hospital; 128 residential care facilities (RCF) in Victoria, Australia.
Objective: To evaluate the use and usefulness of an aged-care home (ACH) transfer- to-hospital envelope (the Envelope) as a tool to support safe clinical handover when an ACH resident is transferred to an emergency department (ED).
Design, Setting And Participants: Participants in the study were 26 ACHs (1545 beds), the EDs of six major metropolitan public teaching hospitals in Melbourne, and ambulance officers involved in transferring residents from ACHs to hospitals. Transfer data were collected over an 18-week period (January-May 2008).