S2E9 Clip

". . . actually, I'm going to tell you what I really think one of the bigger problems became and started very early on and really hurt the nurses big-time. That was the Medication Reconciliation. The idea with Medication Reconciliation was that we were supposed to figure out what medications the patient was on and then make adjustments. And then when the patient discharged, you made sure that the meds that they were on, they stay on if the doctor wants them to stay on, take them off if they want them to take them off and add whatever you're going to add. But you reconcile it right from what they have until what they're going home with. The problem with it was - is - that Medication Reconciliation became something with checkboxes. So we put it into a format so that the doctors could more easily review it. And so, rather than the doctors being selective about what they asked for with the patient (when they used to have to write it out), if they had a list of 12 meds (back in the 90s, they didn't have a list of 12 meds), and they have to write each one of those meds out on a piece of paper or on their orders . . . Guess what? They're only going to pick three or four. Right. But if you have a checkbox, then you can check all of them or just draw a line through it. Take a look at it. You know, do your quick assessment of it. Draw a line through it. Check them all. And guess what? That nurse has to give every single one of those pills. That's vitamin C and vitamin D. And, you know, that doesn't mean that the supplements aren't important. But for that hospitalization for a couple of days, could they come off of their multivitamin? Could they come off of some of these medications that are not absolutely important for that day? . . ."