Top five medication safety tips
Nationally recognized organization recommends practices to reduce patient harm
Our commitment to provide patients with the best possible care and positive outcomes drives our culture of safety and quality. From complicated surgical procedures to routine care, our faculty and staff strive to deliver an outstanding patient and customer experience. One way we commit to high quality care is through a focus on medication safety.
In addition to groups such as the UF Health Shands Medication Safety Committee and the Physician Director of Quality Committee, which identify potential issues and help implement systemwide quality improvement initiatives, our health care leaders look to reliable sources for best practices and strategies for error prevention.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices is a nationally trusted nonprofit organization committed to improving medication-use processes and providing health care practitioners the knowledge and resources to keep patients safe. To commemorate 20 years of advancing medication safety, the ISMP released their top targeted medication safety best practices.
“We’re continually developing ways to make medication administration safer for our patients and strengthen our existing processes,” said Amy Rosenberg, Pharm.D., BCPS, a clinical specialist in UF Health Shands Pharmacy Services and a clinical assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy. “ISMP’s best practices are already well-known and adopted by our clinical care providers, but it’s great to keep them in mind and remind ourselves that small process-improvement efforts like these can make a big difference for our patients.”
1 | Small bag, big benefits
Dispense vincristine (and other vinca alkaloids) in a minibag of a compatible solution and not in a syringe. This drug can cause fatal complications if given intrathecally, or through the spine. The minibag is difficult to infuse intrathecally, whereas accidents can occur easily when using syringes for this purpose. Use a minibag to reduce the risk of medication error.
2 | Weekly regimen
Use a weekly dosage regimen default for oral methotrexate and provide patient education for all oral methotrexate discharge orders. Proper awareness and patient instruction of the weekly dosage schedule is essential.
3 | Shed the pounds
Measure and express patient weights in metric units only, and only use oral liquid dosing devices that display the metric scale. Official product labeling for medication uses the metric system for weight-based dosing.
4 | Read the labels
Measure and express patient weights in metric units only, and only use oral liquid dosing devices that display the metric scale. Official product labeling for medication uses the metric system for weight-based dosing.
5 | Get rid of it — safely
Eliminate glacial acetic (99.9 percent) acid from all areas of the hospital. Vinegar (5 percent solution) or commercially available, diluted acetic acid .25 percent (for irrigation) or 2 percent (for otic use) can be used instead.