Medication Use Process and Quality Improvement Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the medication use process, safety, quality improvement models, and regulatory requirements based on the lecture series.

Interoperability

A goal of the 21st Century Cures Act where all systems within hospitals are able to talk to each other.

Quality Improvement (QI)

An on-going, continuous, and team-oriented process used to improve medication-related processes.

Quality Assurance (QA)

A one-time spot check of a process, differentiated from continuous quality improvement.

PDCA/PDSA

A general rule of thumb Quality Improvement (QI) model where the cycle is repeated as part of process improvement.

P&T Committee

Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee; generally designated as medical staff committees that handle medication policies, guidelines, and formulary management.

Medication Error

A preventable event that differs from an adverse drug reaction because of its preventability.

Near miss

A medication error that is caught before it reaches the patient.

Implicit bias

Attitudes or stereotypes that are outside of our awareness and affect our understanding, interactions, and/or decisions.

Tallman lettering

A technique used to help avoid look-alike sound-alike (LASA) medication errors by highlighting unique letter strings in similar drug names.

FMEA

An abbreviation for Failure Modes and Effect Analysis, a medication safety tool.

Gap analysis

A safety tool that compares national standards to current practice within a specific environment.

NDC

National Drug Code; a 10-12 digit number sequenced as Manufacturer – drug – package size.

Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MMEs)

A measurement where a daily dose of > 50\,MMEs is likely to increase the risk of opioid overdose two-fold.

Corresponding responsibility

The legal term designating a pharmacist as equally accountable as the prescriber with respect to opioid prescriptions.

The "Trinity"

A high-risk "red flag" drug combination consisting of an Opioid + benzo + muscle relaxant.

Medication Reconciliation

A process often performed during "hand-offs" or transitions of care to ensure an accurate medication list and patient agreement.

Therapeutic substitution

The practice of substituting a drug for another in the same class, such as Eletriptan instead of sumatriptan.

TJC review requirement

The Joint Commission requirement that hospitals and health systems review their guidelines and policies every $3$ years.

Evidence Based Medicine

The intersection of Best Evidence, Clinical Expertise, and Patient Values and Preferences.

Medication Use Evaluation (MUE)

An on-going, criteria-based performance improvement component often used to measure compliance with formulary restrictions.

Value Equation

$$\text{Value} = \frac{\text{Quality}}{\text{Cost}}$$

EHR

Electronic Health Record; a digital record system that functions across all hospitals.

EMR

Electronic Medical Record; a digital record system used within one specific hospital or clinic.

Alert fatigue

An unintended consequence of clinical decision support systems where users become desensitized to safety alerts.