Medication Safety Self-Assessment Pilot : Focus on "Never Events" in Community Pharmacy
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many team meetings should we schedule?
- This self-assessment has been designed to be completed in one meeting of approximately one hour.
- Why do we need a team to complete the self-assessment? Can't the pharmacy owner/manager do it alone?
- Because medication use is a complex process, the value and accuracy of the assessment is significantly reduced if it is completed by a single individual. Completion of the assessment is also an educational tool that can benefit the whole pharmacy team.
- Do we need management representation on our team?
- Participation of the pharmacy owner/manager, and corporate district manager if applicable, is valuable because the assessment contains many items that relate to the pharmacy's overall commitment to patient safety. Furthermore, participation in the self-assessment provides management staff with insight into areas of risk in the medication-use system.
- What if an item doesn't apply to the services offered by my pharmacy?
- A "not applicable" response is available for selected assessment items.
- May I make copies of the self-assessment document?
- The copyright allows you to make copies of the self-assessment for internal use. You may not modify or alter the content in any way. Furthermore, you may not modify, transmit, post, or use the contents of this document for personal, public, or commercial purposes unless you have obtained written permission from ISMP Canada.
- My pharmacy is part of a group and there are multiple sites. Do I need a password for each one?
- It is recommended that each site within a corporate group complete the assessment independently. Each site will need its own password.
- How are individual items scored?
-
The assessment items are scored as follows:
A=4 This item is fully implemented.
B=3 This item is fully implemented for some activities, patients, medications and/ or staff in the pharmacy.
C=2 This item has been partially implemented for some activities, patients, medications and/ or staff in the pharmacy.
D=1 This item has been formally discussed and considered, but not implemented.
E=0 There has been no activity to implement this item.
NA=4 Not applicable items are scored as "fully implemented" since they should reflect items that do not present any safety risks to the patients served by the pharmacy.
- How can we use our self-assessment results?
- Once your data has been entered into the web-based program, there are several ways to examine the compiled information.
View/print options include:
- Summary of results ("report card" format)
- Graphs comparing your pharmacy's results to the aggregate database for key elements and individual assessment items, including available filters based on demographic information submitted. (To ensure confidentiality, there must be at least 3 respondents in the aggregate to generate graphs.)
- Can I share my data outside my organization?
- Pharmacies can freely share their own results internally and externally as they deem appropriate; however, any comparisons to aggregate data can only be shared externally with written permission from ISMP Canada.