Moving Medication Safety to the Next Plateau

Author:

Julie Morrison, David Troiano, Jane Metzger, David Classen

The release of the Institute of Medicine report To Err is Human in 1999 marked the beginning of the high-profile national effort to make healthcare safer. One major focus has been medication safety. Now 10 years after To Err is Human progress has been made, but care is still not safe enough. Getting to the next plateau of medication safety will require continuing the work on adopting safer practices but with a focus on the entire medication use process rather than on piecemeal projects. It will also involve extending standardization, incorporating safe practices to all key processes and patient care areas, and optimizing reliable workflows, reinforced by carefully-designed safeguards.

As part of this work on process, getting to the next plateau will also require hospitals to further implement technology, as well as make more effective use of what is already in place. Most hospitals still face change management on a large scale as they tackle house-wide implementation of CPOE and/or eMAR software while optimizing medication use. Ensuring that the organization has the capacity to accomplish such heavy lifting will require building the commitment, culture, executive leadership, and management processes that are up to the task.

Download "Moving Medication Safety to the Next Plateau" (PDF, 270KB)

For more information, please contact us.