Patient Safety Update
Label All Medications
Most medications arrive on inpatient floors and ambulatory areas from the Pharmacy already labeled. But for those medications that nurses and physicians remove from their original containers and put into another container, such as a syringe or basin, a label is required.
For example, all medications must be labeled by a nurse or physician during the preparation for a procedure. Labeling medications improves overall patient safety by reducing the likelihood of administering the wrong medication.
The label needs to clearly state the medication name, strength, amount and expiration date when not used within 24 hours. This is crucial to patient safety, and it has been designated a 2009 National Patient Safety Goal by the Joint Commission.
Sterile kits containing a sterile pen and medication labels are available for OR and procedure areas. Based on feedback from nursing staff, there will be medication labels available throughout the Tower and ambulatory settings within the next few weeks. These labels will contain blank spaces for the medication name, strength, amount and expiration date, if needed, to make labeling medications easier for all staff.
These can be ordered through PeopleSoft by your operations supervisor or practice manager.
Contact Alex Ferraro of the Center for Clinical Excellence with questions at aferraro@partners.org or 617-732-8180.