A new program at Grand River Hospital is improving patient access to medication when they leave the hospital.
Meds to Beds provides patients with prescriptions before they are discharged.
Typically a patient would have to go to a pharmacy after leaving the hospital.
Hospital staff says it removes an added barrier to the recovery process.
“They are just now going home to recover, so to eliminate that extra stopping point for them makes their journey home that much easier,” says Lashen Naidoo, manager for retail pharmacy operations.
According to Naidoo, the program also cuts down the risk of patients ending up with an incorrect prescription.
He says a patient’s medication is often changed throughout treatment.
“If those prescriptions are not filled timely, it can result in a re-admission to the hospital, and obviously it’s counter-productive,” he says.
Meds to Beds also allows for more instruction from doctors and nurses to patients.
Samantha Wideman is a registered practical nurse at Grand River Hospital and helped launch the program. She says hospital staff members are now more confident in the well-being of patients.
“This is a little bit more reassurance for us to know they’re eon the proper treatment,” she says.
The program is currently at Grand River Hospital and its satellite campuses. Staff members say they are not aware of any similar programs in Canada.
