Medication safety in transitions of care

Overview

As part of the Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm, WHO has asked countries and key stakeholders to prioritize three areas for strong commitment, early action and effective management to protect patients from harm while maximizing the benefit from medication, namely:

• medication safety in transitions of care
• medication safety in polypharmacy
• medication safety in high-risk situations

Medication safety in transitions of care

Medication discrepancies impact almost every patient that moves across transitions of care, e.g. admission to or discharge from hospital. WHO urges countries to prioritise early and sustained action to reduce medication-related harm arising at transitions. This report outlines why improving medication safety in transitions of care is a priority and outlines what has been done to date and what needs to be done. The key elements of leadership and improvement programmes, including formal structured processes, workforce capacity and capability, partnering with patients and families, improving information quality and availability and measurement are outlined.