Staff Should Be Alert For Mislabeled Drugs
Remind nurses and other clinicians to remain alert for medication errors, including mislabeled products, and empower them to say something if they suspect a problem.
Mixing Medicine
The Joint Commission unveiled a Medication Compounding Certification (MCC) program that’s open to all compounding pharmacies, not just those accredited by The Joint Commission. The accreditor also called upon healthcare providers to work toward the elimination of medication compounding-related infections (MCRI) like the meningitis outbreak.
Two Effective Initiatives for C-Suite Leaders to Improve Medication Safety and the Reliability of Outcomes
To achieve extraordinary results, senior leaders must put in a lot of heavy lifting, tackling one type of undesired safety outcome at a time
Improving Collaboration Around Medication Management Programs
There are numerous reasons patients stop taking medication against their physician’s advice. They might feel better (or, thanks to side effects, feel worse). They might not be able to reach the pharmacy. The cost might be too steep. Then, of course, there is the potential for medications to be prescribed from a number of points of care, which is leading to more challenges regarding medication reconciliation. Whatever the cause, poor medication adherence has significant costs for both the individual and the health system.
Right Dose, Right Drug: WHO Challenges Hospitals To Cut Med Errors In Half
Worldwide, medication errors cause at least one death per day and cost an estimated $43 billion annually (1% of global health expenditures). In the U.S. alone, 1.3 million people are injured annually due to medication errors. All these errors are potentially avoidable, says the WHO, so long as the right systems and procedures are put into action.
Proposed Seven-Day Limit To Opioid Bill Enters Congress
A proposed Senate bill limits the amount of opioids a patient can initially receive for acute pain. If passed, physicians will only be able to prescribe seven days’ worth of opioids when first treating a patient’s condition.
Use Barbiturate Recall To Remind Staff To Be Alert For Mislabeled Drugs
Remind nurses and other clinicians to remain alert for medication errors, including mislabeled products. And empower them to say something if they suspect a problem.
WHO Announces Effort to Reduce Medication Errors
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a new global initiative earlier this month, one that aims to halve the rate of medication errors by 2022.
Using Information From External Errors to Signal a “Clear and Present Danger”
To best promote patient safety, it is crucial to seek out information about external errors, to hold on to your initial feelings of surprise and uncertainty when you read about these errors, and to resist the temptation to gloss over what happened or attribute the problem to an individual different than you.
ISMP’s Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for 2017
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) released its 2016–2017 Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals guide in December 2015. This year there were five new best practices and two revised out of 11 total.