Medication Reconciliation (Med Rec)
This toolkit provides information, resources and quality improvement (QI) tools for managers and clinicians to improve Medication Reconciliation (Med Rec) in NSW health services. The resources may be adapted to suit local needs i.e. for initial implementation, to review and improve or support current practices.
Medication Reconciliation (Med Rec) is a key focus of the Continuity of Medication Management (CMM) program which aims to prevent unintentional changes and harm in patients' medicines. Med Rec can be defined as a four step process: Collect, Confirm, Compare and Supply.
Visit the CEC CMM and Med Rec website for further information.
This toolkit targets Med Rec processes across all services including metropolitan, regional and rural acute care. Health services can choose the sections or tools of the toolkit that best meet their needs and adapt these as necessary.
Please provide us with feedback on the usefulness of the toolkit or suggestions for improvement.
We encourage you to join the Med Rec Quality Improvement (QI) Community of Practice (only available to NSW Health staff) to connect and share learnings across NSW via QIDS (Quality Improvement Data System). Once you complete the registration form, you and your team will be able to:
- Access additional resources and QI tools, including Med Rec specific examples
- Manage your own improvement project
- Collaborate with other teams undertaking Med Rec improvement.
The 
icon is used throughout the toolkit to indicate when and how to use QIDS for your improvement project.
Note: you will need to complete the registration to the Med Rec QI Community of Practice to access the QIDS resources.
Several internationally produced toolkits were reviewed during the development of this toolkit; concepts from these kits have been incorporated and adapted to the Australian context.
- Society of Hospital Medicine. MARQUIS Implementation Manual: A Guide for Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement (2011)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Medications at Transitions and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Toolkit for Medication Reconciliation (2012)
- ISMP Canada. Medication Reconciliation in Acute Care: Getting Started Kit (2011)
- North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety. Medication Safety Reconciliation Toolkit (2006)
- European Union Network for Patient Safety and Quality of Care – Safe Clinical Practice and Implementation Process for Work Package 5 Tool Box: Medication Reconciliation (2013).