Patientcharacteristics: preimplementation versus postimplementation
| Characteristic | Preimplementation* N=1229 | Postimplementation N=3718 | P value |
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 60.3 (17.6) | 62 (18.3) | p=0.002 |
| Service, n (%) | p<0.001 | ||
| Medicine | 890 (72) | 2988 (80) | |
| Surgery | 262 (21) | 495 (13) | |
| Other | 77 (6) | 235 (6) | |
| Total number of medications, mean (SD) | 8.5 (5.7) | 8.6 (5.8) | p=0.44 |
| Medication information provided by caregiver, n (%) | 227 (18) | 600 (16) | p=0.059 |
| Patient understanding of medications†, n (%) | |||
| High | 468 (45) | 1166 (37) | p=0.02 |
| Medium | 362 (35) | 1362 (43) | |
| Low | 217 (21) | 612 (19) |
*Includes the 3-month ‘wash-in period’.
†Based on study pharmacist assessment. High indicates understanding of medication indications, dose, strength and frequency of most medications. Moderate indicates inconsistent or incomplete understanding of indications, dose, strength and frequency of medications, or otherwise not high or low. Low indicates that at most, patients can identify medications by name or indication but not both and has little understanding of dose. This analysis excluded patients on no home medications in order to run χ2 test for trend.