- Home
- » e-Newsletters
Three tips to help small pharmacies comply with proposed JCAHO goal
Pharmacy Regulation Resource, June 16, 2004
Proposed revisions to National Patient Safety Goal #3 (posted at www.jcaho.org) requires you to improve the safety of using all medications, not just high-alert ones as is currently mandated. One new requirement under Goal #3 restricts IV drug preparation to the pharmacy. The JCAHO does suggest purchasing premixed fluids as an alternative.
Here are three quick tips to comply with the proposed revisions:
1. Look at trends to meet your needs. Evaluate your peak hours and determine when you need to prepare the most IVs at once. This will help you plan for adequate staff levels.
2. Reduce stress with premixed IVs. Premixed IV solutions can help ease staff burdens. Premixed solutions come in a bag and are ready to give to patients.
3. Beware of premixed meds. Your pharmacy will probably not be able to purchase all medications premixed. When a drug is in a powder form-with no liquid added-it can remain stable longer than if a liquid were mixed with it.
Extreme temperatures could spoil some drugs if they are mixed well before patients receive them. That need to prepare certain drugs-such as antibiotics including vancomycin-could pose a problem to hospitals without 24-hour pharmacy coverage.
Have a pharmacist on call who can answer questions about preparing medications and come to the hospital in an emergency.
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- ED-to-inpatient transfers are flawed with safety gaps
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Searched