Patient Safety
The number one priority of the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) is to make Washington a better place to practice medicine and to receive care. We are committed to patient safety and to providing high quality care to every patient in our state.
Adverse Drug Reactions: Reporting Mechanism
Medwatch, the FDA health professionals' medical products reporting program for voluntary reporting of adverse events and product problems.
Medication Errors, the USP medication errors reporting program in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. (Coming soon.)
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Medicaid list of brand drugs that have generic alternatives, ranked by cost (high to low)
Lamictal
Risperdal
Depakote
Lamictal
Protonix
Fosamax
Wellbutrin Xl
Trileptal
Requip
Zyrtec
Risperdal
Zofran
Prilosec
Paxil Cr
Coreg
Duragesic
Lamictal
Zonegran
Neoral
Altace
Methotrexate
Fosamax
Tegretol
Neurontin
Neoral
Zofran Odt
Famvir
Kytril
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Dangerous Abbreviations and Preferred Terms
The WSMA encourages physicians to utilize the preferred terms in their office setting as well as in the hospital.
Download the Institute for Safe Medication Practices' list of error-prone abbreviations, symbols and dose designations.
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Drug and Medical Device Recalls and Safety Alerts
Receive Drug Alerts Online Instead of Current Paper Process
As a WSMA member we urge you to enroll now in a new, free service that will improve patient safety and your liability protection. The FDA has worked with the AMA, state medical societies and liability carriers to bring this new service--the Health Care Notification Network (HCNN)--to you. The HCNN sends drug and medical device recalls and safety alerts to physicians online, replacing the current paper process that is slow and error-prone. Enroll in the HCNN today - it only takes a few minutes.
If you have already enrolled in the HCNN, thank you. More information regarding the HCNN is listed below and you can also learn more by calling 866.925.5155.
HCNN information:
- It’s free for physicians and used only for patient safety notices. There is no advertising or other use of physician information.
- Use of the network is governed by the iHealth Alliance. Your email addresses will not be disclosed.
- Physicians can designate office staff members to also receive HCNN alerts to facilitate information flow and patient follow up.
- Physicians can opt out at any time.
- It’s faster and more efficient than current paper-based patient safety alerts. Delays in delivery of alerts can increase liability risk.
- Physicians not enrolled in the HCNN will continue to receive FDA-mandated patient safety Alerts in paper via U.S. mail. But these paper Alerts typically come weeks after the Alert is delivered via the HCNN.
Tell your colleagues about HCNN and help them improve patient safety and reduce liability risk.
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Eliminating Wrong-Site Surgery
Recommended policies to prevent wrong-site surgeries.
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Patient Safety Organizations
Groups seeking to become designated as patient safety organizations under the 2005 Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act can apply to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality under interim guidance issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services. PSOs can confidentially aggregate and analyze patient safety data, and give hosptials and physicians feedback on ways to improve health care quality.
More information is available online.
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AMA Patient Safety Toolkit
The AMA—through its Making Strides in Safety® program—has developed a new resource that contains quality measures for physicians to use and new strategies to reduce harm.
The toolkit “Working together to improve care and prevent harm” includes quality measures that, for example, can help physicians deliver reliable, evidence-based care for heart failure. It also includes a new strategy that details how to reduce harm from high-alert medications such as sedatives, narcotics and insulin.
The AMA also recently created a booklet, “The physician’s role in medication reconciliation,” that details issues, strategies and safety principles to optimize the safe and effective use of medications. The booklet includes a medication tip card physicians can share with their patients.
Access these and other AMA-developed tools that are part of the Making Strides in Safety program.
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William O. Robertson Patient Safety Award
2009 Patient Safety Award form [PDF]
Past years recipients [PDF]
Ever since the Institute of Medicine released To Err is Human, there has been a lot of attention to improving patient safety. Most of these efforts have been in the inpatient setting.
We can all be proud of Washington state's involvement in the 100-Thousand Lives Campaign and the fact that Don Berwick has repeatedly pointed to Washington state as being a leader in this effort.
We can also be proud that the WSMA was a founding member of the Washington effort. Clearly, patient safety has been one of our priorities for the last several years.
The WSMA established the William O. Robertson Patient Safety Award in order to recognize innovative and creative patient safety activities, especially in the ambulatory setting.
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Other resources:
Patient Safety Curriculum (WSMA)
A Resource from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Washington Patient Safety Coalition
Washington State Hospital Association
AMA-Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement
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