Medication Safety CoP

The goal of the Medication Safety Community of Practice is to improve medication safety within Long Term Care Homes in Ontario.

The November 2009 Report of the Ontario Joint Task Force on Medication Safety, identified that Medication Safety is a key issue for Long Term Care Homes (LTCH). The report noted that care has become increasingly complex and LTC homes have become increasingly challenged to “develop safe, effective medication delivery and medication use systems”. This report made four recommendations with regards to enhancing medication safety in LTCH. The recommendations made by the Task Force to enhance medication safety in LTC Homes focused on four priority areas:

Medication Incident Reporting
Communication at admission /readmission i.e. Medication Reconciliation
Monitoring and documenting of high‐alert drugs effects
Technology strategies and products

The Resident’s First initiative, led by the Ontario Health Quality Council (OHQC), is a partnership based quality improvement strategy to improve the quality of life for residents and staff in LTCH. One goal of Residents First is to reduce adverse events in LTCHs. Nationally, ISMP Canada (a partner in this initiative), Accreditation Canada, and Safer Healthcare Now! have also identified medication safety as an important strategy to enhance safety of residents. Our CoP will focus on improving medication safety within LTCHs. Specifically, change packages or Road Maps will be developed in three areas of focus:

Medication Reconciliation at Care Transitions
Medication (Reconciliation) Appropriateness and
Adverse Drug Events

We will invite Long Term Care homes to join our community, introduce them to quality improvement tools and techniques, provide information on medication safety in the above three areas of focus and encourage their participation and commitment to enhance patient safety through a collaborative model.

Medication Safety CoP

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