Patient Safety Technology Advocates to be Honored at The 8th Annual unSUMMIT For Bedside Barcoding

On April 24-26, in Orlando, Florida, the TerraPharma Project, LLC will convene hospital executives, pharmacists, nurses, safety directors, and information technology professionals at The 8^th Annual unSUMMIT for Bedside Barcoding. Uniting approximately 100 healthcare institutions annually, The unSUMMIT educational event promotes skillful adoption of barcode-enabled point-of-care (BPOC) safety technologies in hospitals across North America.

According to the Institute of Medicine, medication errors contribute to the 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries and 7,000 drug-related deaths which occur each year in U.S. hospitals. Barcode scanning of patients, medications, laboratory specimens and blood products at the point of care, combined with pharmacy and nursing best practices, prevents harm to patients and saves lives.

Each year, The unSUMMIT community nominates and honors the exceptional contributions of individuals and institutions who have helped clear the path and accelerate the adoption of BPOC safety systems in hospitals across North America. This year’s Way-Paver Awards will be presented to recipients on April 24, 2013 in two categories: Institutional Achievement and Individual Recognition.

Institutional Achievement
For 2013 the Way Paver awards committee is recognizing two exceptional pediatric facilities for hurdles jumped in implementing a BPOC system for neonatal and pediatric care above and beyond the usual clinical, technological, and human factors challenges.

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, and Cook Children’s Healthcare System, Fort Worth, TX, have distinguished themselves as leaders in the effective utilization of bar-code technology to ensure safer medication dispensing and administration for children. They have gone beyond merely implementing this technology to rigorously analyze and improve their processes for continuous quality improvement. Further, both teams have generously shared their results and learnings with institutions across the nation, helping others to avoid mistakes and establish best practices for medication safety within their own institutions. Their commitment to transparency and openness is a model for other institutions.

Individual Recognition
Barbara Trohimovich, RPh

In her years with medication safety leaders Hospira Worldwide and Bridge Medical, Barbara Trohimovich, RPh, fulfilled many different functions—each contributing to the development of patient safety technologies which have changed the face of inpatient pharmacy and nursing practice. Having held Director roles over Technology Alliances, Clinical Services and Product Marketing, Barbara has served as an essential intermediary between the clinical and technical realms, translating user requirements into effective product design. Barbara has demonstrated a tireless commitment to advancing the technology, processes and system interoperability that have made barcode medication administration not merely possible, but successful in improving the quality of clinical care. Her efforts have contributed to countless reductions in patient harm and safeguards for clinicians committed to providing the best care possible.

More than 50 leaders will share the barcoding experience of institutions including the Veterans Health Administration, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Lahey Medical Center, and Lancaster General Hospital. The full three-day conference agenda may be viewed at: http://www.unsummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/unSUMMITBrochure2013.pdf.