Communication between health care professionals

In Chapter 5, the importance of professional communication was explained by illustrating the difficulties associated with medication information transfer between different health care professionals. Medication discrepancies arise frequently at all levels of care transitions, putting the patient at risk for adverse drug events (ADEs). Important transitions occur at admission to and discharge from the hospital, and so many studies have focused on medication reconciliation at these transition points to improve continuity of care. Nonetheless, other transitions, such as to nursing homes or ambulatory care clinics, are equally important. The potential causes of errors can serve as the starting point for finding solutions to the problems, especially causes related to patients or information technology (IT).