Medication reconciliation practices in Gulf cooperation council countries: A review

The objective of this review was to assess the current practices on medication reconciliation (MedRec) carried out in hospitals in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. A literature search was conducted in English focusing on finding existing publications on MedRec and/or medication discrepancies in different hospital settings in the GCC countries. Publications from the following databases were retrieved: SCOPUS, EBSCO, PUBMED, and Google Scholar. The retrieving period was from December 1st to 10th, 2021 and all publications since inception were included. The selection criteria were based on the PRISMA statement. Twenty-seven studies were included in this review as they met the inclusion criteria. Out of 27 included studies, 15 studies implemented MedRec during one or all the following stages: admission; transfer, and discharge. The review showed that more than half of the studies originated in Saudi Arabia (n = 15, 55.5%) followed by Kuwait (n = 4, 15%), then Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (n = 3 each, 11%), and Oman (n = 2, 7.4%), and none were conducted in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The published studies showed a wide variation in the current practice of MedRec in GCC hospitals because of different policies from the Ministry of Health and the hospitals. This review outcome concluded that MedRec is likely a recognized and actively promoted process in these countries where it is comparatively more practiced in Saudi Arabia. The MedRec practice in GCC had many problems and limitations, and efforts are needed to overcome these barriers.