Total quality management in action: pharmacy system changes to decrease medication incidents and increase clinical services.
During a monitoring of risk management indicators (incident report analysis), a trend of increasing medication incidents was noted from 1987 to 1990. The medication ordering process was tracked using a flow chart, and, using an interdisciplinary team, the transcription system was targeted for corrective action. A "roving pharmacist" system was devised, with a resultant 63% decrease in the reported medication incident rate from 1990 to 1993.
Shah
N R
NR
General Hospital Center at Passaic, NJ 07055.
Emont
A J
AJ
Johnson
V P
VP
D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009515:New Jersey; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D012107:Research Design; D012308:Risk Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*