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JCAHO wants you... to know your drug pairs

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, November 11, 2004

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Be sure that your directory of look-alike and sound-alike drug pairs has at least 10 from the JCAHO-mandated list released August 20. Surveyors may look for this to verify compliance with a new National Patient Safety Goal requirement to reduce errors related to the dangerous drug pairs.

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) must choose at least five drug pairs from Table II of the JCAHO's list. Another five may come from Tables I, II, or III. (Table I is for hospitals, Table II is for ambulatory care and other settings, and Table III is a list of additional problematic drug names.)

Note: Go to http://www.jcaho.org and click on the National Patient Safety Goals link to check out the list and find intervention tips.

JCAHO-accredited ASCs must compile this list by January 1, 2005, the same day the 2005 National Patient Safety Goals take effect, according to the JCAHO. Organizations need to act now to ensure compliance by the end of the year, says Bud Pate, REHS, director of clinical operations improvement for Marblehead, MA-based The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, which publishes this e-zine.

"To identify the list is one thing," Pate says. "To do the implementation is something else. They've got to get going on it as soon as possible."

If you have already created your own list that does not include 10 JCAHO-mandated pairs, you can submit a request for an alternate approach to the goals, Pate says. But a source from the JCAHO says the chances of getting an alternative compliance approach approved are slim because the goal's intent is to achieve consistency across the industry.

To download a request for an alternate approach to the goals, go to the Web site mentioned above. Do this as soon as possible before January 1, 2005, to make sure your organization is compliant, Pate says.

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