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Cut back on med errors with a 'combating medication errors' class

Nurse Leader Weekly, July 11, 2003

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At UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA, administrators hope a special course designed to educate staff on medication errors will help decrease errors in their facility.

This type of class can also help you comply with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' (JCAHO) medication standard TX.3.3, which mandates that organizations constantly evaluate and improve their medication processes. The intent is that a better-informed staff will improve medication processes and cut back on errors.

"We usually get a pretty good turnout," says Kathy Mahackian, the facility's medication safety pharmacist. "We've got some pretty good feedback; it's really well received and heightens people's awareness."

UC Davis has offered the four-hour course for two years now, and administrators hold the class three times each year. The nursing education department organizes the sessions, which include the following portions:

• A generic four-hour section that examines medication errors
• Talks from risk management and pharmacy representatives
• Specific information geared towards nursing, such as handling calculations and a look at the main areas where medication errors might occur

Program leaders show the "Beyond Blame" video, a ten-minute documentary film produced by Bridge Medical. Mahackian says the video has a profound impact on staff. "[It's] such an attention-getting, devastating errors video. It really works well to show [people] how simple, everyday things can turn into a nightmare of an error."

The course is voluntary and the facility offers pharmacy and nursing continuing education for attending. Administrators look at ways to expand the program to include other health care employees in the course, such as medical students and house staff.

"We're talking to some of the physician educators to see if they want to get some of the third- and fourth-year medical students through the class," says Mahackian. While these plans are still in the discussion stage, Mahackian hopes that the medical students will soon be able to sign up for the course.

Adapted from: Hospital Pharmacy Regulation Report, www.hcmarketplace.com/Prod.cfm?id=1505&=ENMW.

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