Background and importance Multiple studies have shown that pharmacist-led medication reviews can reduce and prevent drug-related problems. Medication reviews require great economic resources and, consequently, the pharmacists need to prioritise the patients who would benefit the most from a medication review. A group of researchers have designed an algorithm called Medicine Risk Score (MERIS) to identify patients who are at increased risk of experiencing medication errors.¹ Even though the algorithm has been used regularly in the selection of patients for medication review, the impact on the patients’ MERIS-scores has not yet been investigated.

Aim and objectives To investigate the impact of a pharmacist-led medication review on the MERIS-score for hospitalised patients.

Material and methods In a controlled, prospective study the MERIS-scores for patients who underwent a pharmacist-led medication review (intervention group – Hospital A) were compared with the MERIS-scores for patients who did not undergo a medication review (control group – Hospital B). Additionally, it was investigated to what extend a change in the MERIS-score was related to the drug-related problems identified. Participants: patients without a medication review in recent months and a MERIS score ≥14, admitted to a medical or cardiology department at two local hospitals. Primary outcome: change in MERIS-scores calculated as the difference in MERIS-score before medication review and 1½ days after.

Results A total of 54 patients were included in the intervention group and 162 patients in the control group. By comparing the changes in the MERIS-scores, no statistically significant difference between the two groups was observed (p=0.84). Of the drugs included in the identified drug-related problems, slightly over 50% had a potential risk of harm or interaction, which influenced the MERIS-score. However, only 17.2% of the drugs would, if the recommendations were implemented, lead to changes in the MERIS-scores.

Conclusion and relevance A pharmacist-led medication review does not seem to have an impact on the MERIS-score for hospitalised patients. Further studies are needed to identify interventions that can reduce patient risk of medication errors.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. Saedder EA, et al. Detection of patients at high risk of medication errors: development and validation of an algorithm. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 2016;118(2):143–149.

Conflict of interest No conflict of interest