Medication Safety and Quality Assurance Flashcards
(125 cards)
1
Q
What is the definition of a medication error?
A
Any preventable event that may cause inappropriate medication use or patient harm
2
Q
What are the most common types of medication errors?
A
Prescribing errors dispensing errors administration errors
3
Q
What is the five rights of medication administration?
A
Right patient drug dose route time
4
Q
What are additional rights beyond the basic five?
A
Right documentation reason response education
5
Q
What is a near miss?
A
Error caught before reaching the patient
6
Q
What should be done when a medication error occurs?
A
Assess patient document error report to appropriate personnel
7
Q
What is the purpose of error reporting?
A
Learn from mistakes and prevent future errors
8
Q
What is a root cause analysis?
A
Systematic investigation to identify underlying causes of errors
9
Q
What are high-alert medications?
A
Drugs that can cause significant harm if used incorrectly
10
Q
What are examples of high-alert medications?
A
Insulin anticoagulants chemotherapy narcotics
11
Q
What is tall man lettering?
A
Using capital letters to distinguish similar drug names
12
Q
What is an example of tall man lettering?
A
hydrALAZINE vs hydrOXYzine
13
Q
What are look-alike sound-alike (LASA) drugs?
A
Medications with similar names or appearance
14
Q
What strategies prevent LASA errors?
A
Tall man lettering separation of products alerts
15
Q
What is the purpose of barcoding?
A
Verify correct medication before dispensing
16
Q
What information is in a medication barcode?
A
NDC number lot number expiration date
17
Q
What is automated dispensing?
A
Computer-controlled medication storage and distribution
18
Q
What are the benefits of automated dispensing?
A
Reduced errors improved efficiency better tracking
19
Q
What is unit dose dispensing?
A
Single-dose packages for individual administration
20
Q
What are the advantages of unit dose?
A
Reduced contamination better tracking fewer errors
21
Q
What is a formulary?
A
List of approved medications for use in an institution
22
Q
What is the purpose of a formulary?
A
Control costs improve quality standardize therapy
23
Q
What is prior authorization?
A
Requirement for approval before dispensing certain medications
24
Q
What is step therapy?
A
Requirement to try less expensive medications first
25
What are quantity limits?
Restrictions on amount of medication that can be dispensed
26
What is medication reconciliation?
Comparing patient's medications across care transitions
27
When should medication reconciliation occur?
Admission transfer discharge from healthcare facility
28
What is the purpose of medication reconciliation?
Prevent medication errors during care transitions
29
What is a brown bag review?
Patient brings all medications for comprehensive review
30
What is polypharmacy?
Use of multiple medications by a patient
31
What are risks of polypharmacy?
Drug interactions adverse effects medication errors
32
What is a drug interaction?
When one drug affects the action of another
33
What are types of drug interactions?
Drug-drug drug-food drug-disease
34
What is a synergistic interaction?
Combined effect greater than sum of individual effects
35
What is an antagonistic interaction?
One drug reduces the effect of another
36
What is a contraindication?
Condition or factor that makes treatment inadvisable
37
What is an absolute contraindication?
Situation where drug should never be used
38
What is a relative contraindication?
Situation where drug should be used with caution
39
What is an adverse drug reaction?
Harmful response to medication at normal doses
40
What is an allergic reaction?
Immune system response to medication
41
What is anaphylaxis?
Severe life-threatening allergic reaction
42
What are signs of anaphylaxis?
Difficulty breathing swelling hives hypotension
43
What is the treatment for anaphylaxis?
Epinephrine supportive care
44
What is pharmacovigilance?
Monitoring of medication safety
45
What is the FDA MedWatch program?
System for reporting adverse events and product problems
46
What should be reported to MedWatch?
Serious adverse events product quality problems
47
What is a serious adverse event?
Event resulting in death hospitalization or disability
48
What is risk minimization?
Strategies to reduce medication risks
49
What are examples of risk minimization?
REMS programs boxed warnings restricted distribution
50
What is a boxed warning?
FDA's strongest warning about serious risks
51
What drugs commonly have boxed warnings?
Antidepressants anticoagulants certain antibiotics
52
What is restricted distribution?
Limited availability through certified pharmacies
53
What is iPLEDGE?
REMS program for isotretinoin to prevent birth defects
54
What is the clozapine REMS?
Monitoring program for serious blood disorders
55
What is temperature monitoring?
Tracking storage temperatures for medications
56
What temperature range requires refrigeration?
36-46°F (2-8°C)
57
What temperature range is considered frozen?
-13 to 14°F (-25 to -10°C)
58
What happens if medications are stored at wrong temperature?
Loss of potency safety concerns
59
What is cold chain management?
Maintaining proper temperature during transport and storage
60
What medications require cold chain?
Vaccines insulin biologics
61
What is expiration dating?
Date until which medication maintains potency
62
What is the format for expiration dates?
MM/YYYY (good through end of month)
63
What should be done with expired medications?
Remove from stock dispose properly
64
What is FIFO?
First In First Out - use oldest stock first
65
What is FEFO?
First Expired First Out - use items expiring soonest first
66
What is lot tracking?
Recording lot numbers for all dispensed medications
67
Why is lot tracking important?
Enables recalls tracks quality issues
68
What is a drug recall?
Removal of products from market due to safety or quality issues
69
What is a Class I recall?
Products that could cause serious harm or death
70
What is a Class II recall?
Products that might cause temporary health problems
71
What is a Class III recall?
Products unlikely to cause health problems
72
What should pharmacies do during recalls?
Identify affected products quarantine notify patients
73
What is quarantine?
Segregating products to prevent dispensing
74
What is tamper-evident packaging?
Packaging that shows if product has been opened
75
What is child-resistant packaging?
Containers designed to be difficult for children to open
76
When can non-child-resistant caps be used?
When requested by patient or prescriber
77
What medications are exempt from child-resistant packaging?
Sublingual nitroglycerin certain birth control
78
What is the purpose of auxiliary labels?
Provide additional safety information
79
What are common auxiliary labels?
Take with food May cause drowsiness Shake well
80
What is patient counseling?
Education about proper medication use
81
Who can provide patient counseling?
Only licensed pharmacists
82
What topics should be covered in counseling?
Purpose dosing side effects storage
83
What is the show and tell method?
Demonstrating proper technique to patient
84
What is teach-back method?
Having patient repeat instructions
85
What language should be used for patient education?
Simple non-medical terms
86
What is health literacy?
Ability to understand health information
87
What percentage of adults have limited health literacy?
Approximately 36%
88
How can materials be made more readable?
Use simple words short sentences bullet points
89
What is the recommended reading level for patient materials?
6th to 8th grade level
90
What is cultural competency?
Understanding and respecting cultural differences
91
How do cultural factors affect medication use?
Beliefs about health adherence patterns communication styles
92
What is medication adherence?
Taking medications as prescribed
93
What are barriers to adherence?
Cost side effects complexity forgetfulness
94
What strategies improve adherence?
Pill organizers reminders education simplified regimens
95
What is a pill organizer?
Device to organize medications by day/time
96
What are medication synchronization programs?
Aligning refill dates for all patient medications
97
What is automatic refill?
System that refills prescriptions without patient request
98
What is medication therapy management (MTM)?
Comprehensive review of patient's medication therapy
99
Who provides MTM services?
Pharmacists
100
What is included in MTM?
Medication review action plan intervention
101
What is a comprehensive medication review?
Systematic evaluation of all patient medications
102
What is a targeted medication review?
Focused review of specific medications or conditions
103
What is a personal medication record?
Complete list of patient's medications
104
What is a medication action plan?
Written plan for patient medication management
105
What is the purpose of documentation?
Legal record communication quality improvement
106
What should be documented for medication errors?
What happened when who was involved outcome
107
What is the principle of non-punitive reporting?
Encouraging error reporting without blame
108
What is a just culture?
Environment that encourages reporting while maintaining accountability
109
What is continuous quality improvement?
Ongoing efforts to enhance processes and outcomes
110
What are key performance indicators?
Metrics used to evaluate pharmacy performance
111
What is benchmarking?
Comparing performance to established standards
112
What is process improvement?
Systematic approach to enhance workflow
113
What is Lean methodology?
Approach to eliminate waste and improve efficiency
114
What is Six Sigma?
Quality improvement methodology to reduce defects
115
What is Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA)?
Cycle for testing and implementing improvements
116
What is workflow analysis?
Examination of processes to identify improvement opportunities
117
What is standard operating procedure (SOP)?
Written instructions for routine operations
118
Why are SOPs important?
Ensure consistency quality and compliance
119
How often should SOPs be reviewed?
At least annually or when processes change
120
What is staff training?
Education to ensure competency
121
What topics should be included in staff training?
Safety procedures regulations new equipment
122
What is competency assessment?
Evaluation of staff knowledge and skills
123
How often should competency be assessed?
Initially annually and after significant changes
124
What is professional development?
Ongoing education to enhance knowledge and skills
125
What are examples of professional development?
Continuing education conferences certification programs
