An Opioid Remedy That Works: Treat Pain And Addiction At The Same Time
In 2016, a record 912 people died from an overdose in Colorado, according to data recently released by the state health department. Of those, 300 people died from an opioid overdose. Opioid use often leads to an addiction to heroin, which claimed another 228 lives last year in the state. Those two causes together now rival the number of deaths from car accidents in the state.
Stopping Opioid Addiction At One Key Source: The Hospital
It’s a simple enough idea: Surgeons should give patients fewer pills after surgery — the time when many people are first introduced to what can be highly addictive painkillers.
Information Overload: Sifting Through Data to Identify Medication-Related Vulnerabilities
Data from the World Health Organization indicates that medication-related errors cause at least one death every day and injure approximately 1.3 million people each year in the United States alone.
ISMP Launches the First High-Alert Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Inpatient and Outpatient Facilities
ISMP will use the aggregate findings to plan additional educational curricula, tools, and resources to help healthcare practitioners enhance safety when using high-alert medications.
Vaccine Shortage Complicates Efforts To Quell Hepatitis A Outbreaks
The San Diego outbreak, and a number of others in California and across the United States, have generated a spike in demand for hepatitis A vaccine and put a squeeze on supplies, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Depressed Nurses Make More Medical Errors
Nurses in poorer health had an up to 71% higher likelihood of reporting medical errors than did her healthier peers.
Staff Should Be Alert For Mislabeled Drugs
Remind nurses and other clinicians to remain alert for medication errors, including mislabeled products, and empower them to say something if they suspect a problem.
Mixing Medicine
The Joint Commission unveiled a Medication Compounding Certification (MCC) program that’s open to all compounding pharmacies, not just those accredited by The Joint Commission. The accreditor also called upon healthcare providers to work toward the elimination of medication compounding-related infections (MCRI) like the meningitis outbreak.
Two Effective Initiatives for C-Suite Leaders to Improve Medication Safety and the Reliability of Outcomes
To achieve extraordinary results, senior leaders must put in a lot of heavy lifting, tackling one type of undesired safety outcome at a time
Improving Collaboration Around Medication Management Programs
There are numerous reasons patients stop taking medication against their physician’s advice. They might feel better (or, thanks to side effects, feel worse). They might not be able to reach the pharmacy. The cost might be too steep. Then, of course, there is the potential for medications to be prescribed from a number of points of care, which is leading to more challenges regarding medication reconciliation. Whatever the cause, poor medication adherence has significant costs for both the individual and the health system.