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Hospitals & Health Networks

Publications and source records attributed to Hospitals & Health Networks.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Medication safety issue brief. Eliminating dangerous abbreviations, acronyms and symbols.

The use of abbreviations, acronyms and symbols in prescribing and transcribing medication orders too often results in the misinterpretation of the order's intent. Busy health care practitioners often use these shortcuts to indicate drug names, dosages, the patient's condition and route of administration. The result can be omission errors, extra or improper doses, administering the wrong drug, or giving a drug in the wrong manner. Stopping the use of unapproved abbreviations, acronyms and symbols can go a long way toward preventing these errors, but that's proven difficult to accomplish. This briefing examines ways that hospitals can put an end to the practice.

Abbreviations as Topic↗
PubMed2005

Medication safety issue brief. Counterfeit drug prevention and identification.

The U.S. drug supply is purportedly one fo the safest in the world and yet counterfeit medications do make their way to pharmacy shelves and into the hands of unsuspecting patients. The World Health Organization reports that about $35 million in counterfeit drugs are sold n the United States each year. Worldwide, between 6 percent and 10 percent of prescription drugs on the market are counterfeit, WHO estimates. The Food and Drug Administration conducted 22 investigations into counterfeit drugs in 2002 and again in 2003; that's up from an average of five investigations per year through the late 1990s. Counterfeit drugs can cause serious harm to patients, including allergic reactions, and deny them access to potentially life-saving treatments.

Drug Industry↗
PubMed2005

Medication safety issue brief, Look-alike, sound-alike drugs.

Confusing drugs with similar names accounts for about 10 percent of all medication errors, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Last year, the American Pharmacists Association reported that there are more than 33,000 trademarked medication names in the United States and more than 9,000 generic names. The large number of medications--added to clinicians' heavy workloads, job stress, unfamiliarity with drug names and confusing, unclear orders, among other things--creates ample opportunity for confusion. A Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' National Patient Safety Goal requires that hospitals identify and annually review a list of look-alike and sound-alike drugs, at minimum, and take action to prevent errors involving the interchange of these drugs.

Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems↗
PubMed2005

Medication Safety Issue Brief. Small and rural hospitals--unique challenges, unique solutions.

Small rural hospital pharmacies face ths same quality challenges as their large, urban counterparts. Yes, they often lack access to the necessary resources to address these issues. That's no minor problem. AHA Hospital Statistics 2006 reports that 2,003 (41 percent) of the nation's 4,919 community hospitals in 2004 were rural. And, as of Aug. 31, 2005, 1,141 hospitals in the United States are designated as critical access hospitals. People living in rural areas are less likely to have insurance and are by and large poorer than those who live in urban areas, according to the National Rural Health Association. The rural population is also older and tends to suffer from more chronic diseases than residents of urban areas. That adds to the challenge for small and rural hospitals. These facilities must treat complex medical cases with limited resources, often with minimal on-site pharmacy coverage.

Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems↗
PubMed2003

Medication safety issue brief. Change your culture forever. Series II, Part 3.

What is it they say about the best-laid plans? They often go awry. It's the same with initiatives to make drug delivery in hospitals safer. An organization can analyze its procedures with the most sophisticated methods and squeeze out every possible chance for error, but the new design will mold with disuse if momentum is lost. There are many ways for an innovation to get derailed: lost enthusiasm, personnel changes, budget cuts. As they mature in the safety process, organizations have to be flexible but also stay firm in maintaining medication safety as a top priority. Keep safety initiatives alive by involving staff, "hardwiring" changes into the system and monitoring their progress well into the future.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Medication safety issue brief. Series II, Part 6: Tapping into your staff's energy.

The front-line workers in a hospital are its greatest resources, particularly when it comes to improving safety. After all, they know the crucial details about day-to-day operations and can offer innovative solutions to problems. But staff members don't always feel comfortable getting involved in change. To tap this hidden well of talent, hospitals leaders should train staff in systems thinking, cultivate a culture of safety and make it easy for employees to contribute their ideas.

Creativity↗
PubMed2001

Medication safety issue brief. Using automation to reduce errors. Part 2.

The medication-use system in hospitals is inherently complex. There can be more than 100 steps from the time a prescription is written to the time a patient receives the medication. Technology has the potential to reduce medication errors by reducing complexity, avoiding over-reliance on memory, simplifying key processes, and, if designed and implemented properly, increasing efficiency. It can also be a cost-effective tool for improving quality. This briefing examines issues in selection and implementation automation.

Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems↗
PubMed2001

Medication safety issue brief. Using a system-wide approach. Part 4.

The meat and potatoes of error reduction is in the root cause analysis of mistakes and near-misses, and the identification of new, safer ways to carry out tasks. This is also the most technical part of patient safety. But hospital leaders find that their staffs can learn from mistakes using home-grown expertise and wisdom, and that it works best if everyone is willing to open up their daily work lives to some well-intentioned scrutiny.

Humans↗