Ohio staffs get training aimed at reducing medication errors

The Ohio Patient Safety Institute, in collaboration with VHA, a Texas-based national alliance of hospitals, held a training session for hospital employees in Ohio on how to lower medication errors (Source: "Ohio hospitals collaborate to reduce drug risks," The Columbus Dispatch, May 16, 2008). This session focused specifically on errors related to the use of blood thinners, especially Heparin and Warfarin.  According to Tiffany Himmelreich of the Ohio Hospital Association, these medications account for about 4 percent of preventable drug adverse events and 10 percent of medications that had potential to cause harm.

Employees from 50 Ohio hospitals participated in the training session on May 15th.  They left with plans to lower the risks of medication mistakes.  The Ohio Patient Safety Instute and VHA will follow up with the participants to see how their efforts are going.