Leaning to Medication Safety

Many MUSC employees have taken classes on process improvement methodology. Lean, a methodology that focuses on decreasing waste and improving value, was used at Virginia Mason in Seattle to decrease medication errors. Lean interventions were utilized in improving six practices: confirming medication with the medication administration record, labeling medications, checking two forms of ID on patients before administration, charting appropriately, improving patient education and decreasing interruptions. After the combination of these interventions were implemented, medication errors were significantly decreased from 10.3/100 doses to 2.8/100 doses.

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