ASHP InterSections Winter 2010 - 14

National Quality Forum Recognizes Pharmacists as Leaders IN ITS NEW SET OF SAFE PRACTICES, the National Quality Forum is championing the need for pharmacists’ leadership in medication management, an exciting development for pharmacists across the country. Safe Practice 18, titled “Pharmacist Leadership Structures and Systems,” is one of 34 guidelines for organizations that have proved effective in reducing adverse health care events. The practice is explicit in its support for pharmacy leadership, stating: “Pharmacy leaders should have an active role on the administrative leadership team that reflects their authority and accountability for medication management systems performance across the organization.” Recognizing Pharmacists’ Patient-Care Role Safe Practice 18 is an important new recognition of the health-system pharmacist’s role in reducing medical errors through medication management, according to Hayley Burgess, Pharm.D., BCPP, director of performance improvement measures, standards, and practices at the Texas Medical Institute of Technology in Austin. Safe Practice 18 Offers New Growth Opportunities “Pharmacists are good at implementing change, and someone has to go in and identify the gaps where people are getting hurt. This is what we are all well-trained to do,” said Burgess, who helped write the new practice standard. Safe Practice 18 is also a call to action for pharmacists to step up and take on larger leadership roles in areas like information technology within their own organizations, Burgess noted. “Pharmacists have the potential to be great leaders, but we haven’t always given ourselves enough credit for that in the past.” The new practice, according to Burgess, gives pharmacists a road map for a safe medication program, based on the framework of strong leadership, a culture of safety, teamwork, and identifying and mitigating potential harm to patients. Safe Practice 18 augments the four practices issued by the NQF in 2006, which covered standardized medication labeling and packing, high-alert medications, unit dose medications, and the pharmacist’s role in coordinating both of these kinds of medications. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
ASHP InterSections Winter 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHP InterSections Winter 2010
