1. Use of Medications Safely
National Patient Safety Goals
Eloisa Legaspi
Araceli Lima
Glaiza Valdeabella

2. National Patient Safety Goals 2018
The purpose of the NPSG is to improve patient safety. The goals focus on problems in health care safety and how to solve them.

3. 2018 NPSG Medication Safety
Goal 3
Improve the safety of using medications
GOAL 3 under the JOINT COMMISSION hospital NPSG

4. 2018 NPSG
NPSG
Before a procedure, label medicines that are not labeled.
Label all medications, medication containers, and other solutions on and off the sterile field in perioperative and other procedural settings.
For example, medicines in syringes, cups and basins.
Goals applies to Hospital, Critical care, Ambulatory, Office based surgery

5. 2018 NPSG
NPSG
Reduce the likelihood of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulant therapy.
Goals applies to Ambulatory, Hospital, Critical care hospital, Nursing Care Center

6. 2018 NPSG
NPSG
Record and pass along correct information about a patient’s medicines.
Find out what medicines the patient is taking.
Compare those medicines to new medicines given to the patient.
Make sure the patient knows which medicines to take when they are at home.
Tell the patient it is important to bring their up-to-date list of medicines every time they visit a doctor.
Goals applies to Ambulatory, Behavioral Health care, Critical Care, Home care, Hospital, Nursing Care center, Office-based surgery

7. Look-alike/sound-alike drug list
In 2010, the look-alike/sound-alike requirement (NPSG ) was moved to the standards and can be found at Medication Management standard MM , EP 1: (The Joint Commission, 2018).
The hospital develops a list of look-alike/sound-alike medications it stores, dispenses, or administers.
The hospital takes action to prevent errors involving the interchange of the medications on its list of look-alike/sound-alike medications.
One source of look-alike/sound-alike medications is The Institute for Safe Medication Practices

8. Samples of Look alike/Sound alike Medications.

9. REMEMBER MEDICATION RIGHTS!

10. What happened to Josie?
It is copyrighted material of the Josie King Foundation. For more information on this speech, please visit

11. No Room for Error!

12. Question Medication labels should contain which of the following?
a. Drug name
b. Strength of the medication
c. Amount of the medication (if not apparent from the container)
d. Expiration date (if not used within 24 hours)
e. Expiration date (if less than 24 hours)
f. All of the above

13. Question
True or false: If medications are labeled by an RN who has shown competency in medication management, it is not necessary for this RN to review the medications with the oncoming nurse at change of shift.

14. Question
Which of the following are non-compliant behaviors to NPSG on Anticoagulation?
a. A patient's baseline coagulation status was not assessed
b. The pharmacist did not provide patient education to the patient concerning food and drug interactions, compliance, monitoring, and adverse effects of the medication
c. The pharmacist does not use any authoritative resources to manage potential food and drug interactions
d. The pharmacist did not use a programmable pump with heparin to ensure consistent dosing
e. The pharmacist did not perform an evaluation of anticoagulation safe practices and had no safe practices in place
f. All of the above behaviors are non-compliant

15. References
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2001). What happened to Josie? Retrieved from px
The Joint Commission. (2018) National patient safety goals. Retrieved from
The Joint Commission. (2018). Medication management chapter. Retrieved from