6.7 Intro to Medication Safety

Question 1

What are the factors to consider when evaluating new drug products?

Answer 1

Efficacy(Evidence based medicine), cost, and safety (Patient Safety)

Question 2

What are some contributing factors to drug therapy costs?

Answer 2

• Acquisition cost
• Cost per day or course of therapy
• Cost of stocking product
• Preparation Cost
• Cost of administration
• Cost of monitoring therapy
• Waste
• Cost of adverse drug reactions and medication errors
• Saving from improved efficacy, improved safety and decreased length of inpatient stays

Question 3

List causative factors that contribute to unsafe healthcare

Answer 3

• Hierarchy; authority gradients, hand offs; fragmentation of care, defect in competency assurance, train and practice silos, insufficient information technology, immature safety culture, autonomy value, and lack of standardization.
• Difficulties in communication, production vs protection imbalance, workplace human factors, poor process design, and inadequate safety training.

Question 4

What is the best drug formulary development approach?

Answer 4

The best drug formulary development approach is a balanced one considering efficacy, overall healthcare costs, and medication safety.

Question 5

What is a major issue in the healthcare field involving patient safety?

Answer 5

Drug therapy has delivered tremendous improvements in patient care but also has the real possibility of harming patients. Assuring medication safety is a major strategy of patient safety management system.

Question 6

What are priority areas in medication management for risk reduction including High alert Medications?

Answer 6

-Drug allergy
-Medication Reconciliation
-Drug Dosage with organ dysfunction
- Computerized Prescriber Order Entry and Electronic Meical Record
- Pediatric Medications
-Opioids and sedatives
-IV electrolytes
-Anticoagulants
-Pediatric medications.
…….. you get the point.