title: Hospitals report on medication safety in Canada.
abstract: Measurement of safety can be difficult. Given that incident reporting systems rely primarily on voluntary reporting and some types of medication incidents may occur rarely, lack of reports about a particular type of incident cannot be interpreted as evidence that the underlying causes are resolved. Proxy measurements, such as the level of implementation of evidence-based practices known to reduce the risk of a particular incident, may provide an indication of progress toward safer systems. This article includes an overview of some proxy measurements influencing medication use systems in patient care areas, including critical care, as reported in the biennial Hospital Pharmacy in Canada survey.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Safety Medication Practices Canada. jgreenall@ismp-canada.org
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Greenall
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lefebvre
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hyland
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Salsman
mesh_terms: D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D002170:Canada; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017751:Safety Management