Action 4.05

Complete a BPMH as early as possible on admission – this is the key first step of a formal process of medication reconciliation. At least two sources of information are needed to obtain and then confirm the patient’s BPMH – for example, the patient and their nominated general practitioner or community pharmacist.

A BPMH should be completed, or the process supervised, by a clinician with the required skills and expertise. Policies, procedures and guidelines for obtaining a BPMH should include:

• A structured interview process
• The key steps of the process
• Documentation requirements (where and what should be documented, such as use of the MMP or equivalent; paper or electronic)
• Roles and responsibilities of clinicians
• Training requirements for clinicians
• Involvement of patients and carers (links to Action 4.03).

Use a standard form for recording the BPMH. This may be the MMP, the section for medicines taken before presentation to hospital on the front of the NIMC or PBS HMC, or an electronic or paper-based equivalent. This creates ‘one source of truth’, and acts as an aid to reconciliation on admission, clinical handover, transfer and discharge.

Consider training requirements to ensure that clinicians with responsibility for obtaining a BPMH are sufficiently competent. Learning modules and instructional videos are available from various state, national and international organisations. These can guide clinicians on using a systematic approach to obtain and record an accurate and complete history of the medicines taken by patients at home, noting that specific techniques for taking a BPMH can influence its accuracy.

The BPMH and associated information should be easily accessible to all clinicians involved in managing the patient’s medicines, and used to reconcile against medication orders on admission, at transfers of care and on discharge. At the end of an episode of care, verified information should be transferred and communicated effectively to the next health service organisation to ensure continuity of medication management.¹

Complete a BPMH as part of the pre-admission screening process or as early as possible on admission. At least two sources of information are needed to obtain and then confirm the patient’s BPMH – for example, the patient and the referring clinician or community pharmacist.

A BPMH should be completed, or the process supervised, by a clinician with the required skills and expertise. Policies, procedures and guidelines for obtaining a BPMH should include:

• A structured interview process
• The key steps of the process
• Documentation requirements (where and what should be documented, such as use of the MMP or equivalent; paper or electronic)
• Roles and responsibilities of clinicians
• Training requirements for clinicians
• Involvement of patients and carers (links to Action 4.03).

Use a standard form for recording the BPMH. The BPMH can be documented on the ‘Medicines taken prior to presentation to hospital’ section on the front of the NIMC or in the preoperative medical record. It should be placed in a designated area of the patient’s healthcare record. This creates ‘one source of truth’, and acts as an aid to reconciliation on admission and on discharge.

Consider training requirements to ensure that clinicians with responsibility for obtaining a BPMH are sufficiently competent. Learning modules and instructional videos are available from various state, national and international organisations. These can guide clinicians on using a systematic approach to obtain and record an accurate and complete history of the medicines taken by patients at home, noting that specific techniques for taking a BPMH can influence its accuracy.

In day procedure services, a BPMH may be taken during the pre-admission process. Pharmacists or specialist services could be contracted by the day procedure service to provide training for other clinicians.

Examples of evidence

Select only examples currently in use:

• Policy documents about obtaining and documenting a BPMH
• Audit results of healthcare records for documentation of a BPMH
• Evidence that BPMHs are documented in a standard place (hard copy or electronic), such as the MMP
• Evaluation report on the quality of patients’ involvement in, and contribution to, the process of obtaining a BPMH
• Training documents about taking and documenting a BPMH
• Records of competency assessments of the workforce in taking and documenting a BPMH.

MPSs and small hospitals should have in place systematic processes for obtaining a patient’s actual medication use and ensuring that a BPMH is completed as early as possible on admission – this is the key first step of a formal process of medication reconciliation. At least two sources of information are needed to obtain and then confirm the patient’s BPMH – for example, the patient and their nominated general practitioner or community pharmacist.

A BPMH should be completed, or the process supervised, by a clinician with the required skills and expertise. Policies, procedures and guidelines for obtaining a BPMH should include:

• A structured interview process
• The key steps of the process
• Documentation requirements (where and what should be documented, such as use of the MMP or equivalent; paper or electronic)
• Roles and responsibilities of clinicians
• Training requirements for clinicians
• Involvement of patients and carers (links to Action 4.03).

Use a standard form for recording the BPMH. This creates ‘one source of truth’, and acts as an aid to reconciliation on admission, clinical handover, transfer and discharge.

Consider training requirements to ensure that clinicians with responsibility for obtaining a BPMH are sufficiently competent.