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Oregon News: Board Adopts Position Statement on Patient Safety
Published in the February 2009 Oregon State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter
The Board expects all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to engage in practices that provide appropriate, accurate, and professional patient care and ensure patient safety. All pharmacies should take proactive measures to prevent errors and adopt a “culture of safety,” which provides for sharing of information to promote best practices.
At its October 15, 2008 meeting in Eugene, the Board adopted a position statement, Optimizing Patient Safety and Reducing Medication Errors in Oregon. This new position statement includes “Recommendations for Optimizing Patient Safety and Reducing Medication Errors,” a 23-point document that was developed by the Board’s Research Council and is based on a review of current literature and work done in other states. The recommendations have been modified and edited specifically for use in Oregon pharmacies.
While the document is not intended to be a comprehensive list of goals that are completely achievable on a continual basis, it does suggest a number of specific procedures that can be implemented in pharmacy practice settings in an effort to enhance existing quality improvement programs. This list is not exclusive of other improvements and may be supplemented by the Board from time to time.
It is the Board’s position that all pharmacies and pharmacists should review these recommendations as a high priority and should consider implementation of those measures that are appropriate to the particular pharmacy setting. The Board believes that adoption and institution of these practices will lead to optimal patient safety through enhanced pharmacy medication dispensing systems, improved performance generally and, ultimately, a significant reduction in medication errors.
The Board would like to acknowledge the work done by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® 2007-08 Task Force on Continuous Quality Improvement, Peer Review, and Inspecting for Patient Safety, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
Please take time to familiarize yourself and others with these recommendations. The position statement and the 23-point document, as well as other position statements adopted by the Board, can be found on the Board’s Web site at www.pharmacy.state.or.us/Pharmacy/Position_Statements.shtml.
