ISMP announces 16th Annual Cheers Awards winners

Several health organizations and individuals recently received the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)’s annual Cheers Awards for “extraordinary advances in medication error prevention.”

The Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis., a large, nonprofit chain of medical clinics, received a CHEERS Award for creating a comprehensive drug safety alert program that communicates FDA warnings to staff and incorporates new information into clinical practice. Marshfield Clinic’s Drug Evaluation Committee assessed safety concerns of six different drugs, identified by the FDA, prescribers, and others.

After an electronic health records (EHR) review of patients receiving the drug, the health organization identified nearly 10,000 potential adverse events. “Around 80% were resolved through changes in prescribing,” ISMP wrote in its MedicationSafetyAlert! newsletter.

Meanwhile, Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, was commended for fully incorporating the use of barcode technology in medication storage, preparation, dispensing, and bedside administration. Now, Cook is able to fully prepare and dispense bar-coded, patient-specific, weight-based unit doses for inpatients and most outpatients. This includes pharmacy compounded solutions, all oral liquids, multi-additive IV solutions, and parenteral nutrition.

Deb Saine, MS, RPh, who was the medication safety manager at the Winchester Medical Center in Winchester, Va., was honored by the ISMP as a nationally recognized patient safety expert who has created “invaluable safety tools,” according to ISMP. Saine co-authored the 2013 Medication Safety Officer’s Handbook, which is used in more than 15 countries. Saine has also led numerous national-level committees to improve medication safety, including forming the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Medication Safety Section Advisory Group.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) received a CHEERS Award for its Safe Injection Practices Coalition and its PROTECT Initiative.  The CDC and the Coalition's “One and Only” campaign targets healthcare professionals and consumers in an effort to eliminate infections and outbreaks from unsafe medical injections.

Additionally, the AAMI Foundation Health Technology Safety Institute in Arlington, Va., received an award for developing the framework for novel research projects, including a 10-hospital study aimed at reducing IV errors.