In the lead up to organisation wide Short Notice Accreditation, Northern Health will focus on two Standards each week. You will hear from the Chairs of each Standard Committee on what you need to know.

Today, we speak with Jier Nguyen, Director of Pharmacy, about Standard 4: Medication Safety.

“Medicines are the most common treatment used in healthcare, and everyone has a role to play when it comes to medication safety at Northern Health,” Jier said.

“The patient is the central focus in medication management, and all clinicians are responsible for working collaboratively to ensure the patient receives safe and effective care. The patient/carer is always involved in shared decision making throughout the process of medication management including prescribing and administration of medications and medication counselling.”

What is this standard about?

The Medication Safety Standard aims to ensure that clinicians safely prescribe, dispense and administer appropriate medicines. It also aims to ensure that consumers are informed about medicines and understand their own medicine needs and risks.

To support and drive safe use of medicines across all stages, subcommittees for high-risk medicines/systems/areas (including insulin, analgesics, anticoagulants, adverse drug reactions, chemotherapy, mental health, electronic medication management, and medication infusion devices) are in place to manage risks and drive ongoing improvements.

At Northern Health, this standard looks like….

We work together collaboratively when prescribing, administering and dispensing medications and provide information to patients to ensure the patient is kept safe and medication errors are minimised during their inpatient stay. We also ensure patients are discharged safely and continue to stay well in the community.

When administering medications, we follow the seven rights of medication administration (RIGHT patient, RIGHT drug, RIGHT dose, RIGHT route, RIGHT time, RIGHT documentation, RIGHT reason). We have a strong reporting culture, reporting medication incidents and we learn about the trends in medication errors and work together to improve medication safety across the organisation. The patient is the central focus of care, and they are a key component of shared decision making and are involved in the decisions around medication treatment throughout their stay.

 What are the top 6 ways staff can be prepared for Accreditation against this Standard?

1. Ensure the patient is involved in all aspects of medication management and ensure they are provided with information in a way they understand
2. Perform a Best Possible Medication History and Medication Reconciliation at admission to reduce the risk of medication related errors including comprehensive allergy/adverse drug reaction documentation
3. Know the Medication Safety Improvement projects in your area, reflect on what you are most proud of
4. Keep medication rooms tidy, and ensure all medications are stored appropriately (e.g. locked in the medication room, dedicated medication fridges, Schedule 8 or S4D safes, and Omnicell cabinets).
5. Be involved in education sessions on medication safety including in-services and presentations and learning packages on the LMS portal (e.g. Medication Safety Training, Safe Medication Administration – Get It Right!)
6. Familiarise yourself with workflows to support safe prescribing, administration and dispensing practices.

 What are the top 5 questions staff needs to be able to answer about this Standard?

1. What types of medication related incidents concern you and the area you work in? What has your area done to reduce the risk of these?
2. How do you involve the patient/carer in decisions about their medications?
3. How do you store medications safely and in accordance with legislative requirements in your area?
4. How do you report a medication incident or new allergy/Adverse Drug Reaction? How do you know what types of medication incidents are reported in your area?
5. What are the high-risk medicines at Northern Health and what are some strategies used to reduce the risk of medication errors with these medicine classes?

 Is there anything else you would like staff to know about this Standard?

Medication safety is a shared responsibility and is something we practice every day when we are providing exceptional patient care. We should all be proud of the work we do to improve medication safety and remember to highlight this and be proud when speaking to the assessors.

To learn more about Standard 4, please click here.