Mandatory reporting crucial to safety

HEALTHCARE regulators need to implement mandatory requirements for the reporting of errors and “near-misses” to boost patient safety.

Speaking during an International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) webinar on Fri night, Pharmapod (a patient safety software provider) Pharmacy Director, Daniel Burns, stressed the importance of systematic recording of medication errors and nearmisses, if the profession is to make strides in meeting the World Health Organization’s Patient Safety Challenge of reducing medication errors by 50% over the next five years.

“What is needed [to achieve this] is a mandatory requirement for errors and near-misses to be recorded with an emphasis on shared learning and improvement,” he said.

“Everyone has a part to play in this... people in leadership positions who are dedicated to making change happen and also pharmacists on the frontline have a responsibility to encourage an open and transparent approach to reporting and learning from errors.

“From our experience coming to a consensus and taking a national system-wide approach will deliver adoption and improvements at pace.”

Burns urged pharmacists and regulators to take a holistic approach to medication safety management, highlighting the need to record incidents, and use the information.

“If you don’t have the data you can’t generate the improvements,” he said.

“And then analysing the data in real-time, identifying trends and risks to then put plans in place to mitigate those risks and create actions for improvement.”

He added that reporting systems needed to provide meaningful feedback to ensure pharmacists feel there is a benefit to reporting errors and near-misses.