PROMOTING MEDICATION SAFETY: 2 CONTACT HOURS

Course overview

This course was developed to provide critical information related to safe medication handling and administration. The target audience is for all health care professionals responsible for handling, administering, and monitoring the administration of medications. Medication safety is critically important to nursing practice. This course provides guidelines for safe medication use, identification of safe medications, as well as rights and responsibilities of medication administration and monitoring. Prescribers have over 10,000 prescription medications from which to choose and advances in healthcare have given rise to more complex medications. These advances have resulted in significant improvements in disease management, but have also increased the risk for adverse drug reactions. To avoid unintentional harm to patients, healthcare professionals must understand and abide by the expectations bestowed upon them: patients and their families place trust in healthcare professionals each time they enter a healthcare facility. It is a duty as healthcare professionals to serve and protect each patient by appreciating the power of each drug before administering any medication to a patient. As a healthcare professional, it is also imperative to understand the legality, responsibility, and accountability every professional has to each patient while participating in any component of the medication administration process. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1.Describe the significance of the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report on medication errors. 2.Define, and distinguish between, the following terms: safe medication, drug safety, quality issues, medication errors, and adverse drug events. 3.Recognize each of the governing bodies involved in medication safety: FDA, AHRQ, IOM, USP, NCC, ISMP, and the JCAHO. 4.Identify the types of medication errors made by healthcare professionals. 5.Identify the ways a patient may be responsible for initiating a medication error. 6.Analyze the format for reporting a medication error to the Food and Drug Administration. 7.Identify the ways to promote medication safety for patients.