Pharmacists' Impact On Patient Safety

Dear Pharmacist,

The recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on medication errors highlights our direct impact on preventing medication errors and protecting patient safety – demonstrating the need for careful review of best practices by nursing, pharmacy, and materials management departments alike.

The IOM committee estimates a staggering one medication error occurs per patient per day in hospital care.¹ In the emergency department alone, an analysis of 2,063 drug errors submitted to Medmarx (U.S. Pharmacopeia’s anonymous national medication error reporting database) showed that 77 percent of medication errors occurred during the prescribing and administering phases.² Disturbingly, these errors often involve the commonly-used antibiotic ceftriaxone – a drug critical to patient health management. The US Pharmacopeia named it among the top 25 drugs associated with medication errors overall,³ and among the top three drugs associated with medication errors in the ED.⁴

We must ask ourselves: as formulary and prescription gatekeepers, responsible for both the meticulous protection of patient safety and the careful management of production- and cost-efficiency, what concrete steps can we take to reduce medication errors institution-wide?

Consider your drug delivery system. Do its built-in features:

• Enable staff in the pharmacy and on the patient floor to best comply with JCAHO and USP <797> guidance?
• Provide time-saving advantages for emergency and long-term care alike?
• Facilitate inventory tracking and patient charting?
• Actively reduce the potential for dosing errors?

To help prevent medication errors, the DUPLEX^® Drug Delivery System enables pharmacists and staff institution-wide to confidently deliver optimum patient care with three generations of cephalosporin antibiotics. Its unique dual-chambered design – with drug below diluent solution – ensures proper dosing and makes it impossible to deliver the diluent without the drug. DUPLEX is stored room-temperature, eliminating the need for thawing and ensuring greater patient comfort. Its pre-activation shelf life means less time spent restocking, and its ready-to-hang packaging ensures compliance with JCAHO time constraints for antibiotic administration. Barcode references ensure proper dosage and facilitate inventory tracking, reimbursement and automated patient charting.

To find out more about how DUPLEX Drug Delivery System can help prevent medication errors and improve patient safety at your institution, go to www.safedrugdelivery.com or call (800) 854-6851.

Sincerely,
Rachel Vitoux, RN, MSN, CCRN
B.Braun Medical, Inc.

For more information visit www.safedrugdelivery.com
If you have a question email Rick.Williamson@bbraun.com

Learn more. Visit us at ASHP booth #3110

¹Aspden, et al. Preventing Medication Errors. Quality Chasm Series. Institute of Medicine, 2006.
²Patient Safety in the ED. Hospital & Health Networks, May 2006.
³US Pharmacopeia, http://www.usp.org/patientSafety/resources/top50DrugErrors.html.
⁴Patient Safety in the ED. Hospital & Health Networks, May 2006.