Join ISMP International Fellows in promoting the first ever World Health Organization (WHO) World Patient Safety Day. It is estimated that 1 in 10 patients are harmed while receiving hospital care in high-income countries, and 1 out of every 4 hospitalizations results in patient harm each year in low- and middle-income countries.  In May of this year, WHO’s Member States established September 17th as World Patient Safety Day.

Hi,
I am looking for an authentic reference from any reliable source for the interpretation of the expiry dates printed on the medication packages.
For example if the expiry date printed on the package is 05/22, We consider it to be good for use till the last day of May for the year 2022, at our institution. But I am struggling to find any strong reference for the same. I will appreciate if someone can help by providing a reference. Thanks for any help in advance.

Syed Zia ul Arifeen
Medication Safety Officer & Quality Improvement Pharmacist

For those that are drawing up patient-specific doses, how do you handle larger doses (80-100 units or more):
-Do you split into separate syringes? (this can get complicated for dosing and administration with the EHR)
-Send a vial and have the nurse draw up?
-Any other ideas?

Our practice is to prepare all Lantus doses under 80 units. If a dose is larger than that, we send a vial. For other long acting insulins we send a vial or a pen, depending on the insulin.

Hi All, we've had a couple of near misses here in which the light-protective bag intended for a Lasix drip is placed on a different drip before dispensing, and then sent to the wrong floor based on the outer bag label. This has lead to the question: Do we even need to protect Lasix from light after mixing, as these are administered immediately and hang for a maximum of 24 hours.

What is your practice and, if you don't light-protect, which reference are you using to support this?

Thank you!

Erica Fredette
Medication Safety Officer
South Shore Health

Please share whether your hospital requires specific monitoring of IV lorazepam for anxiolysis prior to MRI?

Is the IV lorazepam administered on the floor prior to transport to MRI and if so does a nurse accompany the patient?

Does PRN administration of IV lorazepam on the nursing unit require specific monitoring as well?

Thanks!

I'm thinking about taking the CPPS exam. Any recommendations on what to study besides the IHI course? Was the test difficult? Thanks!

Good Evening-

Our organization is working through the Sentinel Event Alert surrounding direct oral anticoagulants. I am curious to see what process improvement metrics other organizations are using to improve the safety of DOACs.

Hello,
I have been asked to research what other institutions use for sedation for cardioversion? Do you use a hypnotic agent? Do you have anesthesia involved?
Thanks

Marilyn Hargett MSN, RN
Medication Safety Officer

We are interested in how other organizations handle the CMS/TJC/CIHQ requirement that "processes and mechanisms should e established to monitor patient responses to a newly added medication before the medication is made available for dispensing or administration within the hospital."

Do you have a blanket statement in policy that is applicable to every new drug, or do you define individual parameters for each new drug? If you would be willing to share policies that would be very helpful.

To prevent wrong dose or wrong route administration errors when administering EPINEPHrine for anaphylaxis, has your organization employed either of the following safeguards:

1.)EPINEPHrine autoinjectors (e.g. EpiPen, EpiPen Jr, Auvi-Q)
a.) If yes, are there specific care areas where these items
are maintained as floorstock? (e.g. oncology, radiology)