NQF: Pharmacists Should Take Greater Role in Patient Safety

Greater integration of pharmacists with the healthcare team is a benefit not only to the organization by way of more efficient care, but more importantly to the patient, as his or her care will become safer with a pharmacist around at all time to be involved in the decision-making associated with care, said Andrawis.

She presented some actions that facilities can do take to realize an effect on medication safety:

• Open the lines of communication between the leadership team and the hospital's pharmacists. Pharmacists want to have a greater role in decision making, said Andrawis. They can also best explain how medication management can lower the facility's costs. She gave the example of a new service opening up within the hospital. "It's really the pharmacy leader that can best anticipate any disruptions or changes that might result on the medication use system from other decisions that are made.”


• Create a medication safety committee. Led by a pharmacist, this committee can be tasked with reviewing errors, performing root cause analyses related to medication errors, and brainstorming how to plug gaps in the medication system. This group should also be involved in any Walkrounds that take place, said Andrawis.


• Make sure pharmacists are involved in technology planning and implementation. Today, many types of technology are used to manage medications in the hospital. Examples include smart pumps, bar coding, and computer physician order entry. "I really believe the results could just be catastrophic if the technology is not planned for adequately and implemented safely," said Andrawis.


• Include a pharmacist on the clinical team. Instead of referring to pharmacists at certain stages of the process, Andrawis encouraged hospitals to consider making the pharmacist another part of the team, much like the nurse, doctor, and any specialists. Doing so will eliminate delays in care, promote collaboration, and better decision-making for each patient's care, and encourage a sense of shared responsibility for each patient, said Andrawis.