• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

JCAHO to ease abbreviation call-back requirement

Pharmacy Regulation Resource, June 15, 2005

The JCAHO will back off its requirement that pharmacists call prescribers to clarify an order if it contains an unapproved abbreviation, a commission surveyor said.
 
The accreditor will make an announcement in the near future that pharmacists will be allowed to use discretion when filling orders, Darryl Rich, PharmD, MBA, said June 12 during the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) 2005 Summer Meeting in Boston. Pharmacists will not have to call a prescriber if they can read the order and understand what the abbreviation means, he said.

It was unclear at press time when the JCAHO would make a formal announcement.
 
If pharmacists have doubt about the abbreviation in the context of the order, they must call the prescriber, he said. A call-back will not eliminate the occurrence of an abbreviation, and surveyors will still cite the hospital, he said.
 
The JCAHO is changing its stance because of "the old cry-wolf syndrome," Rich said. Prescribers received so many calls about unapproved abbreviations that they would not return phone calls, which could put a patient at risk, he said.
 
Pharmacists also should not be charged with mandating compliance, Rich said.
 
"This is a medical-staff issue," Rich said. "This is not a pharmacy police responsibility."

Rich also spoke about the JCAHO's unapproved abbreviations requirements. The commission will no longer require hospitals to choose three additional abbreviations.
 
But organizations must be careful if they have more than the nine required abbreviations.
 
"If you do have three more or five more or six more, you are at risk because we still would expect 90% compliance," Rich said.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive