Medication safety week
November 7, 2011
PHARMACISTS are being urged to
take part in an incident reporting
project as part of the inaugural
National Medication Safety Week
which kicks off today.
Various groups are encouraging
participation including the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
and NPS Australia, which said the
initiative is an “opportunity for
pharmacists to contribute to
improving the safety of patients in
the primary health care
environment”.
The project is the brainchild of
the University of Sydney’s Faculty
of Pharmacy (PD 03 Nov), with NPS
ceo Lynn Weekes saying that
“Patient safety is paramount when
it comes to medicines, especially
given the 190,000 medicine-related
hospital admissions that happen in
Australia every year.
“Pharmacists are well placed to
identify when medicines safety
issues arise and to ask why they
happened,” Weekes said, urging
participation by reporting
medication safety incidents and
near misses to help build the body
of knowledge in this area.
PSA President Grant Kardachi said
reports can be made anonymously,
adding that with up to 73% of
adverse drug events estimated to
be preventable, “projects like
Medication Safety Week are
fundamental to help reduce the
incidence” of such problems.
He said community pharmacists
would be helping highlight patient
safety issues in the Australian
primary health care environment.
To learn more about participation
in the National Medication Safety
Week reporting project, as well as
access to the online reporting tool
for community pharmacists, visit
www.australianpharmsafety.org.
MEANWHILE NPS is also urging
consumers to report and discuss
side effects related to their medicines
via the Adverse Medicines Events
hotline on 1300 134 237.
Side effect details reported by
callers will be passed onto the TGA.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 07 Nov 11To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 07 Nov 11
