High-Alert Medications and Safe Practices: A Study Guide for Nurses

Get 2.7 Nursing Contact Hours!

High-Alert Medications and Safe Practices is a vital staff training tool. It will help you protect your patients and your facility.

The Institute of Medicine report, "To Err is Human," found that up to 98,000 deaths per year were the result of medical errors—making medical errors the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. This unnerving statistic is compounded by an increase in legal liability surrounding medication errors. Plus, it is a Joint Commission training requirement.

Now, more than ever, you need to make sure your employees are educated on this critical topic.

High-Alert Medications and Safe Practices: A Study Guide for Nurses is an easy-to-understand guide that will provide nurses with the knowledge they need to safely administer medications that The Joint Commission and Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) have deemed high-alert medications. This includes medications like opioids, heparin, insulin, and warfarin—which can carry especially high risks to patients if administered and monitored incorrectly. With this versatile guide, you have the option to lead informative educational sessions or to distribute it to your staff nurses to use as a self-study tool.

This useful guide:

• Allows nurses to train when it is most convenient for them
• Helps fulfill The Joint Commission's training requirements
• Provides nursing contact hours via an exam and evaluation included in the book
• Includes practical, real-life case studies about high-alert medication errors and critical thinking questions for the learner to consider if and when they face a similar situation
• Identifies how to administer and monitor high-alert medications more safely and effectively
• Explains the potential interactions between popular dietary supplements and warfarin (coumadin)

High-Alert Medications and Safe Practices gives you and your staff the tools and knowledge needed to protect your patients from errors and harm associated with high-alert medications.

Learning Objectives:

• Define the term "high-alert medication"
• Describe The Joint Commission's Patient Safety Goals related to medication administration
• Identify commonly reported problems of high-alert medications
• Identify specific practices that are recommended when administering and monitoring the different high-alert medications

Target Audience:

• Directors of nursing
• Nurse managers
• Chief nursing officers
• Survey prep coordinators
• Vice presidents of nursing
• Directors of patient safety
• Directors of quality improvement

Statement of need:

Medications labeled "high-alert" tend to have higher risk of patient injury when involved in medication error. Patient safety is the underlying issue. Four of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations' (Joint Commission) seven National Patient Safety Goals cover medication administration. Medication safety has been an important topic for years following the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) report, To Err is Human. The report found that up to 98,000 deaths per year were the result of medical errors—making medical errors the eighth leading cause of death in the United States.

Faculty

Marla Husch, RPh, has more than ten years of clinical experience at a tertiary-care academic medical center. She has made significant contributions to academically rigorous and practically useful patient safety research.

Jennifer M. Groszek, RN, BSN, MJ, has six years of healthcare experience in the acute-care setting. She has participated in a variety of process improvements, specifically medication safety initiatives and patient fall prevention.

Denise Rooney, RN, BSN, OCN, has more than seventeen years of experience in acute academic healthcare. She has a strong clinical background, with in-depth knowledge of oncology nursing, chemotherapeutics, and patient safety.

Faculty Disclosure: The authors for this program have disclosed that they do not have any vested interest in the products or services associated with this activity.

Continuing Education

HCPro is accredited as a provider of continuing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center Commission on Accreditation.

This educational activity for 2.7 nursing contact hours is provided by HCPro, Inc.

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