Source: Council on Administrative Affairs

To support efforts to minimize the use of abbreviations in health care; further,

To collaborate with others in the development of a lexicon of a limited number of standard drug name abbreviations that can be safely used in patient care.

Source: Council on Professional Affairs

To affirm that individual pharmacists have a professional responsibility to ensure patient safety through the use of proven interventions and best practices; further,

To affirm that employee performance measurement and evaluation systems should incorporate measures that support and encourage a focus on patient safety by pharmacists.

This policy was reviewed in 2006 by the Council on Pharmacy Practice and by the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.

Source: Council on Legal and Public Affairs

To collaborate with other health care providers, professions, and stakeholders to advocate and support federal legislative and regulatory initiatives that provide liability protection for the reporting of actual and potential medication errors by individuals and health care providers; further,

To seek federal liability protection for medication-error reporting that is similar in concept to that which applies to reporting safety incidents and accidents in the aviation industry.

This policy was reviewed in 2004 by the Council on Legal and Public Affairs and by the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.

Source: Council on Professional Affairs

To urge drug manufacturers and FDA to involve practicing pharmacists, nurses, and physicians in decisions about drug names, labeling, and packaging to help eliminate (a) look-alike and sound-alike drug names, and (b) labeling and packaging characteristics that contribute to medication errors; further,

To inform pharmacists and others, as appropriate, about specific drug names, labeling, and packaging that have documented association with medication errors.

This policy was reviewed in 2004 by the Council on Professional Affairs and by the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.

Source: Council on Professional Affairs

To urge that pharmacists be included in health care organizations' risk management processes for the purpose of (a) assessing medication-use systems for vulnerabilities to medication errors, (b) implementing medication-error prevention strategies, and (c) reviewing occurrences of medication errors and developing corrective actions.

This policy was reviewed in 2004 by the Council on Professional Affairs and by the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.

Source: Council on Legal and Public Affairs

To encourage pharmacists to exert leadership in establishing a nonthreatening, confidential atmosphere in their work places to encourage pharmacy staff and others to report actual and suspected medication errors and adverse drug reactions in a timely manner; further,

To provide leadership in supporting a single, comprehensive medication error reporting program that:

a) fosters a confidential, non-threatening, and non-punitive environment for the submission of medication error reports;

b) receives and analyzes these confidential reports to identify system-based causes of medication errors or potential errors; and

c) recommends and disseminates error prevention strategies; further,

To provide leadership in encouraging the participation of all stakeholders in the reporting of medication errors to this program.

This policy was reviewed in 2003 by the Council on Legal and Public Affairs and by the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.

Source: Council on Administrative Affairs

To affirm that pharmacists must assume a leadership role in preventing, investigating, and eliminating medication misadventures across the continuum of care.

This policy was reviewed in 2007 by the Council on Pharmacy Management and by the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.

Source: Council on Professional Affairs

To encourage pharmacists to apply human factors concepts (human errors related to inadequate systems or environment) in the prevention, analysis, and reporting of medication errors; further,

To encourage research (in conjunction with other groups, as appropriate) to identify human factors causes of medication errors and opportunities for their prevention.

This policy was reviewed in 2004 by the Council on Professional Affairs and the Board of Directors and was found to still be appropriate.