Please Note: While on rotations, student pharmacists are expected to follow policies and procedures relating to medication safety. Students should be familiar with the National Patient Safety Goals and the Official “Do Not Use List” of Abbreviations. Background information and links are provided below.
Facts about the National Patient Safety Goals
In 2002, The Joint Commission established its National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) program; the first set of NPSGs was effective January 1, 2003. The NPSGs were established to help accredited organizations address specific areas of concern in regards to patient safety.
Development of the Goals
A panel of widely recognized patient safety experts advise The Joint Commission on the development and updating of NPSGs. This panel, called the Patient Safety Advisory Group, is composed of nurses, physicians, pharmacists, risk managers, clinical engineers and other professionals who have hands-on experience in addressing patient safety issues in a wide variety of health care settings. The Patient Safety Advisory Group works with Joint Commission staff to identify emerging patient safety issues, and advises The Joint Commission on how to address those issues in NPSGs, Sentinel Event Alerts, standards and survey processes, performance measures, educational materials, and Center for Transforming Healthcare projects. Following a solicitation of input from practitioners, provider organizations, purchasers, consumer groups, and other stakeholders, The Joint Commission determines the highest priority patient safety issues and how best to address them. The Joint Commission also determines whether a NPSG is applicable to a specific accreditation program and, if so, tailors the goal to be program-specific.
For More Information
The National Patient Safety Goals for each program and more information are available on The Joint Commission website. Questions can be sent to the Standards Interpretation Group at (630) 792-5900 or via the Standards Online Question Submission Form.
The Official “Do Not Use” List
View the Official Do Not Use List. In 2001, The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert on the subject of medical abbreviations, and just one year later, its Board of Commissioners approved a National Patient Safety Goal requiring accredited organizations to develop and implement a list of abbreviations not to use. In 2004, The Joint Commission created its “do not use” list of abbreviations as part of the requirements for meeting that goal. In 2010, NPSG.02.02.01 was integrated into the Information Management standards as elements of performance 2 and 3 under IM.02.02.01
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)
The ISMP has published a list of dangerous abbreviations relating to medication use that is recommends should be explicitly prohibited. The list is available on the ISMP website or can be found directly at ‘Error Prone Abbreviations’.