Department of Pharmacy Services, Shifa International Hospital won the Institute of Safe Medical Practices award in recognition of implementation of medication safety strategies.
ISMP is the US-based world’s foremost non-profit organization educating the healthcare community and consumers about safe medication practices. The ISMP Cheers Award honors individuals, organizations, and companies that have set a standard of excellence for others to follow in the prevention of medication errors and adverse drug events. Winners are recognized for their positive examples and/or teamwork through their implementation of medication safety strategies.
This year, the award has been granted to Shifa International Hospital for setting up ‘Camera Assisted Verification’ to ensure concurrent, in-process verification of Oncology admixture for the right medicine, right concentration, dose, and right diluent.
According to the Chief of Pharmacy. Ms. Salwa Ahsan, the tailor-made software for this process have a huge acquisition and maintenance cost which may not always be easy for resource-limited countries to consider. But Shifa pharmacy was able to run this process with local gadgets and software available in minimum operational cost. The system ensures that chemo preparation errors are checked and avoided before dispensing. She added that Shifa pharmacy is managing more than 1500 chemo doses per month through this setup which is a great patient safety undertaking knowing the high-alert nature of chemo drugs.
Dr. ManzoorH Qazi, Chief Executive Officer,Shifa International Hospital congratulated the pharmacy team for achieving this award and reiterated that Shifa International Hospital will continue implementing medication safetypractices for its patients.
