CME: Successful Strategies for Addressing Medication Safety Hot Topics - Pediatrics

ACCREDITATION EXPIRED: January 04, 2015

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online CME self-learning program:

In an effort to improve health care quality by fostering collaboration, a consortium of Medication Safety Officers from ASMSO have agreed to work together to enhance the knowledge of, and leading to a reduction in medication administration errors and readmission rates in acute care hospitals.

Why have those particular patient populations been singled out as worthy of attention?  The literature suggests that, in each case, they continue to be high risk; errors are more frequent and the potential for catastrophic consequence is higher in these patient populations relative to the general adult population: 

• In the case of pediatrics, error rates occur at up to three times the rate of adult patient populations, a majority were incurred in medications associated with high acuity of care (e.g., antibiotics, intravenous routes of delivery), and nearly one in five is considered to represent the distinct potential for harm.

Taken together, these observations from the literature and recent guideline updates suggest that gaps in practice exist in these patient populations – gaps that the proposed learning activities will attempt to bridge.

The presentations will be conducted using a case study format identifying areas of safety that have been successful based upon each of the practice areas noted.  These presentations will achieve objectives including; Identify factors of the patient population that increase the risk for medication errors, discuss risk reduction strategies for the particular patient population that can be applied to the medication-use process, completing, development of a list of root causes of medication administration errors, determining the economic cost to the system of these errors, development of data collection protocols, and an effort in the participating hospitals to utilize this information to reduce medication administration errors at their facilities.

Agenda

• Introduction, Disclosures
• Elements of a pediatric medication safety program: review
• Challenges to ensure safe medication administration practices in the pediatric population 
• Case studies of pediatric medication safety events
• Medication safety improvement initiatives in the pediatric population
• Putting it all together: best practices, summary, and conclusions

Target Audience:

Healthcare professionals including: physicians, mid-level practitioners working in acute care hospitals and other healthcare settings, inpatient-setting medication safety officers, pediatric-specialty pharmacists, pharmacists who otherwise have an interest in pediatric care or whose practice involves pediatric patients, and technicians who are directly or indirectly involved in the medication preparation for pediatric patients.

Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by  educational grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and Hospira.

Release Date: January 04, 2013 -- Expiration Date: January 04, 2015

Faculty: Sean O'Neill,

Agenda

Learning Objectives

Accreditation

Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI

Instructions

System Requirements