Nebraska News: First Baseline Study of the State of Patient Safety in Nebraska Pharmacy Published

February 1, 2009 2:48 pm Topics: Patient safety

Published in the February 2009 Nebraska Board of Pharmacy Newsletter

The Nebraska Board of Pharmacy created a grant opportunity with a mission to improve patient safety in pharmacy practice, in honor of Mr Dyke Anderson, dedicated professional to pharmacists and their patients. The project entitled, “Pharmacists for Patient Safety,” led by the Creighton Health Services Research Program (CHRP) in the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions at Creighton University was funded through the Dyke Anderson Patient Safety Grant, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Partial funding was also contributed through the Nebraska Office of Rural Health. The first phase of the project, which is now complete, was a baseline study of patient safety issues Nebraska pharmacists and their patients face across the spectrum of practice and geographic settings. All of Nebraska’s 2,195 pharmacists were invited to participate. The study summarizes and describes errors and risks pharmacists have encountered and also those encountered by their patients. They voluntarily shared their stories and experiences about system problems and errors, near misses, and risks in practice related to medication therapy management, new therapies and technologies (bar code medication administration, e-prescribing, electronic and personal health records, decision support systems, and others).

The next phase will use this evidence to develop a system to assist pharmacists in identifying possible practice improvements, strategies, or areas of action. This first comprehensive report, “State of Patient Safety in Nebraska Pharmacy – December 2008” may be downloaded from the Report section of the CHRP Web site at http://chrp.creighton.edu.

By Kimberly Galt, PharmD, Associate Dean of Research, Creighton University