SelfMED - Zelfmanagement van geneesmiddelen door gehospitaliseerde patiënten

Summary

SelfMED - Patient self-management of medication in hospital
Toke Vanwesemael

AIM: (1) To describe the current legal context and practices concerning self-administration of medication in Flemish hospitals. (2) To explore and describe the opinion and attitude of stakeholders towards self-administration of medication. (3) To develop, validate and test the evidence based SelfMED procedure.
METHOD: First, a cross-sectional study provided insights in current practices. Mixed methods studies identified the opinion of all stakeholders. Based on the literature search and available evidence, the SelfMED procedure was developed and tested during an intervention study.
FINDINGS: Self-administration of medication occurred in 22% of hospitalized patients. The opinion of nurses was that almost double this number of patients would be able to self-administer. Subsequent surveying of patients, nurses, physicians and hospital pharmacists confirmed their willingness and permissive attitude towards self-administration of medication. Based on our studies and supplementary literature research, the SelfMED procedure was developed and validated. A first-time implementation on a cardiology ward showed low numbers of medication administration and registration errors. It was possible to provide self-administration of medication within the current legal framework, yet some conditions should be fulfilled.
DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION: The SelfMED project offers a broad basis of new knowledge and provides the fundaments for future research concerning self-management of medication in hospital.

Keywords: Self-management, medication, hospital, nursing, inpatients