Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

MATCH - Medication Reconciliation Toolkit

Northwestern Memorial Hospital developed a comprehensive toolkit focused on the prevalence and impact of adverse events, medication safety, medication reconciliation and the implementation of the electronic medical record.

Over the past several years, Northwestern Memorial Hospital has addressed medication reconciliation for inpatient and outpatient practice settings as well as within a paper-based and electronic medical record system.

Through the support of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and a collaboration between Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and The Joint Commission, MATCH was developed.

The MATCH team includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, health services researchers and experts in quality and patient safety.

This toolkit is a culmination of experiences as well as collaborations with other organizations and individuals locally, regionally and nationally. This toolkit is designed to help health leaders:

• Make the case for prioritizing medication reconciliation as a patient safety program at their organization
• Define the problem by outlining successful practices and identifying current deficiencies within the organization or practice setting
• Develop a new or redesign an existing medication reconciliation process that will meet patient safety goals and can be integrated into staff’s workflow
• Test and implement new or enhanced medication reconciliation process throughout the organization or practice setting
• Assess and evaluate the process post-implementation to achieve sustainable results
• Inform and involve patients, families and caregivers in the medication reconciliation process