How do clinicians reconcile conditions and medications?The cognitive context of medication reconciliation
Geva Vashitz • Mark E. Nunnally • Yisrael Parmet •Yuval Bitan • Michael F. O’Connor •Richard I. Cook
Received: 17 April 2011 / Accepted: 22 August 2011Ó Springer-Verlag London Limited 2011
Medication omissions and dosing failures are
subjects matched conditions and medications related to
frequent during transitions in patient care. Medication
the same organ system together (Wilcoxon W = 1917.0,
reconciliation (MR) requires bridging discrepancies in a
p \ 0.001). We conclude that the clinicians commonly
patient’s medical history as a setting for care changes. MR
arranged the information into two groups (conditions and
has been identified as vulnerable to failure, and a clini-
medications) and assigned an internal order within these
cian’s cognition during MR remains poorly described in
groups, according to organ systems. They also matched
the literature. We sought to explore cognition in MR tasks.
between conditions and medications according to similar
Specifically, we sought to explore how clinicians make
criteria. These findings were also supported by verbal
sense of conditions and medications. We observed 24
protocol analysis. The findings strengthen the argument
anesthesia providers performing a card-sorting task to sort
that organ-based information is pivotal to a clinician’s
conditions and medications for a fictional patient. We
cognition during MR. Understanding the strategies and
analyzed the spatial properties of the data using statistical
heuristics, clinicians employ through the MR process may
methods. Most of the participants (58%) arranged the
help to develop practices to promote patient safety.
medications along a straight line (p \ 0.001). They sortedmedications by organ systems (Friedman’s v2(54) = 325.7,
Medical cognition Á Medical expertise Á
p \ 0.001). These arrangements described the clinical
Diagnostic reasoning Á Patient safety Á Card-sorting Á
correspondence between each two medications (Wilcoxon
W = 192.0, p \ 0.001). A cluster analysis showed that the
A common fragile point in health care is transition betweenprovider and locale (Cook et al. 2000). A transition creates arisk for loss of information, abandonment of care plan, or
discontinuity of treatment. Unintentional failures in medi-
article (doi:10.1007/s10111-011-0189-0) contains supplementary
cation prescribing are one of the most frequent causes of
material, which is available to authorized users.
preventable harm in health care (Cornish et al. 2005; Bud-
nitz et al. 2006). Discrepancies may arise from incomplete,
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management,
opaque, or ambiguous findings, complex medication inter-
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653,
actions, and time pressure. Patients frequently do not con-
84105 Beer-Sheva, Israele-mail: gevava@bgu.ac.il
vey valid clinical data in such transitions because ofmedical illiteracy, memory limitations, embarrassment
M. E. Nunnally Á Y. Bitan Á M. F. O’Connor Á R. I. Cook
(e.g., lifestyle medications and psychiatric medications), or
the perception that information is clinically unimportant
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care,University of Chicago Hospitals, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Medication reconciliation (MR) can be broadly defined
as the task of bridging discrepancies in a patient’s medicalhistory after a care setting changes. Linkages between
conditions and medications should be explained. However,MR is commonly identified as vulnerable to failure (Clay
In a simulation experiment, participants were asked to
et al. 2008; Jylha and Saranto 2008; Miller et al. 2008;
make sense of hypothetical conditions and medications
Pippins et al. 2008; Wong et al. 2008; Brady et al. 2009;
using a card-sorting task. Details of the experiment are
Frei et al. 2009; Gandara et al. 2009). Awareness to MR
described elsewhere (Vashitz et al. 2010). The card-sorting
interlaces within the growing awareness to patient safety
method is a validated method in the cognitive and social
sciences for gathering user input (Coxon 1999). Analyses
Landrigan et al. 2010). The Joint Commission, the
of card-sorting tasks yield affinity diagrams that spatially
accreditation body for US hospitals and other health care
represent a subject’s concepts, mental models, or percep-
organizations, has identified MR as a national patient safety
goal (JCAHO 2006). This focus led to diverse efforts to
Participants were clinicians in the Department of
audit and improve the process of MR. Most of these efforts
Anesthesia and Critical Care at the University of Chicago
are prescriptive, such as the use of forms and emphasis on
Medical Center, who practice MR daily. We abstracted
supervision by pharmacists (Pronovost et al. 2003; Bo-
patient records to produce a fictional case for preoperative
ockvar et al. 2006; Hayes et al. 2007; Manning et al. 2007;
assessment by an anesthesia provider. We chose the case
Weingart et al. 2007; Coffey et al. 2009; Walker et al.
to replicate typical clinical complexity. We printed the
2009), or the use of information technology (IT) as a tool
fictional patient’s diagnoses and medications on simple
for data management (Poon et al. 2006; Kramer et al. 2007;
paper cards. All participants faced the same initial card
Turchin et al. 2008; Agrawal 2009; Schnipper et al. 2009).
arrangement shown in Fig. 1. The patient was described as
However, the question of how MR relates to a clinician’s
a 66-year-old woman scheduled for a wide local excision
cognition of a patient’s medical history is currently unex-
of a tongue lesion. We asked the participants to arrange the
cards in a sensible way while ‘‘thinking aloud’’ and sharing
An extensive body of literature explored cognitive pro-
their thoughts. Three cards (cerebrovascular accident,
cesses related to clinical diagnostic reasoning (Boshuizen
clopidogrel, and digoxin) were exposed later in the simu-
and Schmidt 1992; Patel et al. 1997, 2002; Charlin et al.
lation to assess the response to new data. For the methods
2000; Round 2001; Elstein et al. 2002; Thomas et al. 2008;
described below, we analyzed the final arrangement of all
Vickrey et al. 2010). MR can be described as a cogni-
cards. A video camera captured hand movements and
tive problem-solving task, similar to popular memory or
matching games. MR requires memory, reasoning, andprioritization based on incomplete, ambivalent, or redun-
dant data. Such functions place an extensive cognitive loadon the clinician, especially because MR is commonly per-
We used geometric and spatial cues such as card order,
formed under intense working conditions. MR may include
alignment, and clustering to explore the perceptions of the
typical characteristics of difficult problems, including time
participants. We captured a graphic image of the final
constraints, interactions between parts, uncertainty, and risk
arrangements for each participant and coded the position of
each card by its rectangular coordinates (x, y) in units of
We previously demonstrated that clinicians performing
pixels. Using these coordinates, we calculated the Euclid-
a simulated MR task arranged medical conditions along a
ean distance between each card pair. To make distances
line ordered by organ systems (Vashitz et al. 2010). We
comparable across participants, we standardized the raw
were curious to further explore whether such patterns
distances based on the longest distance in any particular
appear with medications as well and whether clinicians
reconcile conditions and medications in particular patterns. Our specific aims were to (1) explore how the ordering
patterns previously observed in medical conditions arereflected in the arrangement of medications and (2) to
An important spatial measure of card sorting is alignment,
describe the relationship between conditions and medica-
as it may represent some communal property or even pri-
tions and the way the relationship might help define MR in
ority between cards. A linear order exists if the variance of
practice. Such exploration is important to learn how cli-
the coordinates projected on one of the axes (either X or Y)
nicians make sense of medication and condition history and
is smaller than the variance on the other axis. We used the
how this may potentially improve patient safety.
Levene’s test for equality of variance to compare the
Fig. 1 The simulated case. CAD coronary artery condition,DVT deep vein thrombosis,
variances on X- and Y-axis projections. This test was
2.2.3 Clustering conditions and medications
applied to each participant separately. We then used anonparametric binomial test to test the hypothesis of a line-
In our hypothesis, a shorter distance between a given
like arrangement across all participants.
medication and a condition suggested a clinical relation. We calculated the mean of the adjusted distances (MAD)
of each condition–medication pair across all participants. We then ran a cluster analysis on the MADs using 4
We were also interested in whether the cards were ordered
clusters to replicate an ordinal scale: cluster 1, very close;
in a meaningful pattern. One way to identify patterns in
cluster 2, close; cluster 3, far; and cluster 4, very far. Pairs
arrangement is to look at the proximity between cards. We
in a same cluster might share clinical properties. We
used the Friedman test for ranking to compare the adjusted
compared the MAD to the classification by the senior cli-
distances across participants. The Friedman test yields a
nicians using a nonparametric two independent samples
mean rank for each card pair, which is the average of the
pairs’ ranks across all participants. The smaller mean rankfor a card pair indicates that, across all participants, these
cards were closer. We compared the mean ranks in thecontext of the clinical classification of the conditions and
We aimed to explore ‘how’ clinicians reconcile the infor-
medications according to the organ systems treated. We
mation by analyzing the think-aloud verbal protocols and
used the nonparametric k independent samples test to cor-
the post-experiment interview. We sought to identify
relate the Friedman’s mean ranks with the classifications of
qualitative terms that may explain underlying cognitive
senior clinicians. The classification was performed inde-
process. The analysis focused on explanations about the
pendently by two senior clinicians (MN, MO), who were
way the cards were sorted, such as sorting criteria, order of
unaware of the mean ranks. If two medications affected the
same organ system (e.g., pulmonary and pulmonary, psy-chiatric and psychiatric), we referred to them as a ‘‘match’’. Such matches reflect the influence of clinical reasoning on
card sorting. We compared the mean rank of each medi-cation–medication pair, according to whether it was a
The participants sample has been described in detail
‘‘match’’ or not by the classification of the senior clinicians
previously (Vashitz et al. 2010). We recorded results
using a nonparametric two independent sample test.
from 24 participants: 6 attending physicians, 5 certified
registered nurse anesthetists, 10 residents, and 3 third-year
p \ 0.001). All the pairs in cluster 1 (very close pairs) were
medical students. Ten participants were women and 14
matches, as were 59.3% in cluster 2 (close) and 39.5% in
cluster 3 (far). There were no matches in cluster 4 (veryfar). Participants tended to match conditions and medica-
3.1 Alignment and proximity between cards
tions related to similar organ systems together. For exam-ple, cardiovascular conditions (atrial fibrillation, coronary
The Levene’s test for equality of variance showed that 14
artery condition, hypertension, myocardial infarction, and
participants (58%) arranged the medications along a
cerebrovascular accident) are treated by cardiovascular
straight line (p \ 0.001). The 11 medications yielded 55
medications (aspirin, atorvastatin, clopidogrel, digoxin,
medication–medication pairs for each participant. Table 1
diltiazem, and potassium). With some exceptions, the
demonstrates the closest and farthest pairs and whether
analysis put them into the same cluster, as it did with the
they are a clinical match. All pairs are available from the
online appendix. Friedman’s mean ranks were significantlydifferent from each other (Friedman’s v2(54) = 325.7,
p \ 0.001). Lower mean ranks describe a pair of medica-tions that were placed closely and presumably belong to a
Analyzing the verbal protocols, we looked at both the
same organ system. The nonparametric two independent
‘‘think-aloud’’ portion of the task and the post-experiment
sample test showed that the mean rank in ‘‘matched’’ pairs
reflections. Many subjects mentioned sorting the cards by
(10.1) was significantly lower than the mean rank in ‘‘unmat-
ched’’ pairs (37.4) (Wilcoxon W = 192.0, p \ 0.001). In otherwords, the participants tended to sort medications treating
…It’s helpful for me to kind of think about it from
either kind of an organ system approach (Subject 14). …I think my first inclination is to kind of group these
3.2 Clustering conditions and medications relations
in terms of anatomical location or patho-physiology(Subject 4).
The cluster analysis classified the relationships into four
…I guess its kind of how we learned in medical
groups based on proximity, around centroids at MAD of
school, first you have your history or your present
0.40, 0.48, 0.55, and 0.64 (Fig. 2). We expected that clin-
ically associated conditions and medications would be
The subjects also mentioned pairing medications with
placed in a similar cluster (i.e., condition–medication pairs
that were related to a same organ system). We ratified theserelationships statistically by comparing the MAD to the
…I organize things according to the disease states…I
classification by senior clinicians using a nonparametric
feel it is incumbent upon the practitioner to make sure
two independent sample test. Consistent with our hypoth-
that a medication correlates with at least one diag-
esis, the MADs correlated with the clinical match between
nosis that we know the patient to have. I tend to lump
conditions and medications (Wilcoxon W = 1,917.0,
things into systems, organ systems… (Subject 15).
Cardiovascular or neurological/cardiovascular
Cardiovascular or neurological/psychiatric
is the average of the pairs’adjusted distances across all
Cardiovascular or neurological/psychiatric
Psychiatric/cardiovascular or neurological
in-group orders. If both conditions and medications arearranged by organ-based order, the linkages between
conditions and medications should have a similar rea-soning pattern. Data from the verbal protocols and thepost-experiment interview support the findings from thequantitative analysis. These data suggest that many sub-
jects sorted the cards by organ systems and matchedmedications with conditions.
4.1 Cognitive insights reinforced by findings
Each card had various attributes, such as priority, relevance
to the forthcoming procedure, possible links with other
Mean Adjusted Distance (MAD)
cards, and time of occurrence. Such attributes may dictatethe sorting strategy. Different clinicians may distinguishand weigh such attributes differently. The clinicians
apparently used the attributes to classify cards by com-
munal properties: it is clear that the clinicians sorted the
cards into two groups (conditions and medications) andassigned an internal order within these groups according to
Fig. 2 Cluster analysis of relationship between conditions and
organ systems. They also matched cards according to
medications. A cluster is a group of condition–medication pairs withan adjacent mean of adjusted distances (MADs). The X-axis depicts a
related criteria (conditions that are usually treated by cer-
nominal number assigned to the pair (from 1 to 110). The Y-axis
tain medications, and medications that usually treat certain
depicts the MADs of each pair across all participants. Shorter MADs
conditions). Such strategies are not obvious because other
represent cards that are closer together. A ‘‘match’’ is a case in which
clinical, chronologic, causal, or contextual criteria could
the condition and medication belong to the same organ system (e.g., apulmonary condition and a pulmonary medication). The horizontal
have been used. These relationships are based on a con-
lines represent the center of clusters (centroids). Legend: Cluster 1:
ceptual understanding of condition physiology. Such a
filled circle matches, open circle non-matches. Cluster 2: filled square
consistent trend probably reflects disciplines learned in
matches, open square non-matches. Cluster 3: filled triangle matches,
medical training, in which preclinical courses are often
open triangle non-matches. Cluster 4: filled diamond matches, opendiamond non-matches
…Then basically the main organizational scheme
4.2 Correspondence with clinical reasoning
was just pairing the drugs with what condition they
were likely to, to be… (Subject 24).
…I’ve got it laid out so the diseases are over here and
4.2.1 The ‘‘small worlds’’ concept
the medicines associated with them are over here, sothere’s kind of a correspondence between them…
Clinicians making diagnoses use reasoning through a
network of causal rules that appears to derive from thephysicians’ underlying knowledge base, adapted to goalsof clinical tasks (Patel and Groen 1986; Charlin et al.
2000). Our findings suggest that medications and condi-tions share complex cognitive relationships, which clini-
Our initial quest was to describe how clinicians make
cians use during clinical work. The cognitive literature
sense of the MR task. Our previous findings (Vashitz
offers several explanations for such mechanisms. For
et al. 2010) suggest a highly repetitive pattern of
example, Kushniruk et al. (1998) showed that clinicians
arranging medical conditions in an organ-based order.
organize diagnostic knowledge by similarities between
The current data replicate this finding with medications
condition categories, forming ‘small worlds’ consisting of
and moreover suggest linkages between the conditions
small subsets of conditions and their distinguishing fea-
and medications. The integration of our previous and
current data depicts a pattern of separating conditions and
grouped together conditions and medications sharing
medications into two groups, ordering elements of each
communal features according to the presence of key
group by organ system, and creating linkages based on
4.2.2 Family resemblance and representativeness
Rosch and Mervis (1975) suggested that categories are not
The simulated case was based on a real-life, complex
organized around strict definitions but rather according to a
preoperative evaluation that reflects a task clinicians face
family resemblance. Objects belong to the same category
routinely. The experiment was conducted with minimal
because they are similar to each other and dissimilar to
instructions to allow spontaneous behavior by clinicians
objects in contrasting categories. Ahn and Medin (1992)
who practice MR daily. The sample included a range of
suggested that people first arrange data by a preferred
expertise, including senior attending clinicians, residents,
criterion. If examples do not fit within the preferred crite-
advanced practice nurses, and medical students. We
rion, people then adjust for differences between preferred
translated observed behaviors into quantitative data to
and other criteria. Such an adjustment may represent a
compromise between a structured concept and the neces-
We acknowledge several limitations of our findings. Our
sity of mapping concepts into real-world examples. Vari-
simulation was for one patient and included clinicians of
ability in our data probably reflects such an adjustment.
the same specialty. Sample size limited the exploration of
Some cards in our study fit several categories. For example,
variability and different expertise levels. Although we
aspirin may be used to treat both cardiovascular and neu-
think that the simulated case has a high fidelity to a real
rological conditions. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) can be
patient, performance in an experiment might be different
categorized as a cardiovascular or a hematologic condition.
from care of a real patient. Our observations do not address
Hypertension is a risk factor for cardiovascular conditions,
ambiguities and conflicts clinicians might encounter when
which can lead to myocardial infarction. Depression in the
performing MR. Exploring the findings with various clin-
simulated case may have resulted from cancer or a heart
ical cases, specialties, and expertise levels may uncover
condition. Less-connected cards potentially reflect uncer-
ambiguities and conflicts at the heart of MR and advance
Several studies (D’Zurilla and Goldfried 1971; Rath
et al. 2004) suggested that problem-solving usually begins
with a general orientation or ‘‘set’’, followed by variouscognitive-behavioral steps, which ideally lead to effective
The insights into the thought processes of clinicians
problem resolution. The distinction between conditions and
during MR are a starting point for discussions about what
medications appears to underlie a general orientation, fol-
makes medical care safe or vulnerable. The strategies
lowed by arrangement by organ systems.
identified here may serve to understand underlying cog-
The categorization also may be derived from a represen-
nitive processes. The results of the study can be reused
tativeness heuristic (Tversky and Kahneman 1974). Cards
for the purpose of providing clinicians with decision aids
may be classified into a category because they saliently
that support these patterns. Efforts to improve safety
represent it. For example, a deep venous thrombosis (DVT)
should strive to replicate the natural thought process of
is a hematologic representative, but it may be categorized
clinicians. Our findings support the argument that for MR
into other groups as well. Whether such strategies were used,
safety, organ-based information should be considered
and their temporal order, should be further explored.
pivotal to a clinician’s cognition. We suggest that suchtools should be aware of these strategies and assist cli-
nicians with forming clinical linkages between conditions
and medications. Such tool may follow previous conceptsof graphic user interface with anatomical diagrams used
MR is apparently an interplay between long-term concep-
to facilitate medical information gathering and entering
tual models of anatomy and medications and a working-
(Stoicu-Tivadar and Stoicu-Tivadar 2006). MR should
memory, problem-solving capability. Moreover, it is an
apparently be approached as a piece of a larger organi-
interplay between external representations (e.g., diseases
zational, clinical, and cognitive process. Hence, it may be
and medications) and internal representations (e.g., the
integrated in broad interventions to improve safety,
clinical reasoning that matches between diseases and
including training, artifact design, and IT, for adaptive
medications) (Richardson and Ball 2009). This insight
would indicate what type of intervention could improve the
The methodology may be applicable to other disciplines,
effectiveness of the MR process and its reliability. As
teams, technologies, and socio-technical contexts. The
working memory is limited, we may suggest intervention
methodology is independent of the discussed context and is
that reduces working-memory workload, such as automated
applicable to any other cognitive information gathering
decision aids that map to observed cognitive processes.
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This work was kindly supported in part by a
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
Fulbright doctoral dissertation research scholarship to Geva Vashitz.
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Blepharitis Patient Information Blepharitis ("bleph" = eyelid and "ritis" = inflammation) is a recurring mild irritation of the eyelid. Although blepharitis is a very common problem, it will not affect your vision, and you will normally be able to manage it with some simple treatment measures. Blepharitis affects all age groups, but can become more troublesome in older peo
Malaria Prophylaxis It is useful to take an ABC approach to malaria A- Awareness of risk – all travellers must be aware of the risk of malaria in the areas they visit, take action to reduce the risk, and seek medical advice urgently if they get a fever or flu like symptoms B- Bites : prevent or avoid – sleep in rooms properly screened. Spray the room with knockdown insecticide be