What does medication reconciliation aim to identify?

Medication reconciliation is a critical process in healthcare that aims to ensure the accuracy and safety of medication management for patients. It specifically focuses on identifying medication duplications, omissions, and interactions. This process involves comparing a patient's current medication orders with their previous medications to determine discrepancies.

By identifying duplications, healthcare providers can prevent patients from taking multiple prescriptions that serve the same purpose, which could lead to adverse effects or increased side effects. Omissions are crucial to identify as well, as patients may not be receiving necessary medications that have been prescribed previously, potentially exacerbating their health condition. Interactions are equally important; recognizing possible adverse interactions between medications helps prevent harm and ensures that providers can make informed decisions regarding a patient's treatment plan.

While patient medication preferences, insurance conflicts, and compliance are relevant to overall medication management, they do not directly address the immediate safety issues related to the medications themselves, which is the fundamental concern of medication reconciliation. Thus, focusing on duplications, omissions, and interactions directly aligns with the primary objectives of ensuring patient safety in pharmacotherapy.