Application of nurse-led medication reconciliation in polypharmacy management of elderly patients with comorbidities

GAO Bingxin; YAN Meiqiong; SU Wei

doi:10.12102/j.issn.1009-6493.2025.20.001

Abstract：Objective:To explore the application effect of nurse-led medication reconciliation in the polypharmacy management of elderly patients with comorbidities.Methods:A total of 96 patients who were hospitalized in the geriatrics department of a tertiary grade A hospital in Shanghai city from August 2023 to January 2024 were selected as the research subjects.A non-concurrent control was adopted.A total of 48 patients admitted in the initial 3 months of the study were assigned to the control group.Another 48 patients admitted in the subsequent 3 months were assigned to the observation group.The control group received conventional drug management.The observation group received nurse-led medication reconciliation.The number of medications,unintentional medication discrepancies,medication literacy scores,and medication compliance were compared between the two groups at admission,one month after discharge,and three months after discharge.Results:One month and three months after discharge,the average number of unintentional medication discrepancies in the observation group was lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).The medication literacy scores in the observation group were higher than those in the control group(P<0.05).The scores of medication compliance in the observation group were higher than those in the control group(P<0.05).Three months after discharge,the proportion of patients with unintentional medication discrepancies in the observation group was lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).The number of medications in the observation group was significantly reduced compared with that at admission(P<0.05).Conclusions:Nurse-led medication reconciliation can reduce unintentional medication discrepancies among elderly patients with comorbidities,improve the degree of medication literacy,and promote medication compliance.