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Resources: Primary Care

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Strengthening Medication Safety in Long-Term Care

The Ministry of Long-Term Care (MLTC) in Ontario is partnering with ISMP Canada to support long-term care homes in strengthening medication safety.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Do Not Use List

ISMP Canada, Accreditation Canada, and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (now Healthcare Excellence Canada) collaborate with organizations to eliminate the use of dangerous abbreviations, symbols and dose designations in health care to improve the safety of Canadian patients.

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

TALLman Lettering

TALLman lettering is a method of applying upper-case lettering to sections of LASA drug names as a differentiation strategy.

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

Oxytocin Safety

Oxytocin is a high-alert medication. Its use to start or advance labour has been identified as a high-risk area of practice. A patient handout was developed that provides information about the benefits and risks of oxytocin for these indications. It was designed, in collaboration with patients and providers, to supplement the conversation between health care providers and patients/care partners about oxytocin. The handout aims to increase the role of the patient as a partner in intravenous oxytocin safety.

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

Medication Safety Self-Assessment® (MSSA)

Medication Safety Self-Assessments® (MSSAs) are designed to:

• Evaluate the safety of your medication system
• Identify vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvement
• Increase awareness of safe medication system characteristics
• Monitor progress over time

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

Opioid Stewardship

Opioid Stewardship may be described as coordinated interventions designed to improve, monitor, and evaluate the use of opioids in order to support and protect human health. This web page has been developed to help the public and health care practitioners become better informed about opioids and to help reduce and prevent harm.

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

Med Safety Exchange

Join your colleagues across Canada for complimentary 50-minute webinars to share, learn and discuss incident reports, trends and emerging issues in medication safety!

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Definitions of Terms

This glossary provides definitions for a minimum number of terms that are considered essential to the discussion of Medication Incidents in the context of a Canadian medication incident reporting and prevention system today. Revisiting the selected definitions will be required periodically to align with national and international patient safety initiatives as they develop.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Canadian Pharmaceutical Bar Coding Project

In an effort to increase medication safety, members of the healthcare industry are collaborating to implement standardized bar codes on pharmaceutical products which have been approved for use in Canada. Headed jointly by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada) and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), this national initiative was guided by an advisory Implementation Committee with technical requirements developed with assistance from a Technical Task Force (TTF), representing six identified healthcare sectors.

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

Medication Reconciliation (MedRec)

Healthcare providers work together with patients, families and care providers to ensure accurate and comprehensive medication information is communicated consistently across transitions of care

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers

5 Questions to Ask About Your Medications

Patients are at high risk of fragmented care, adverse drug events, and medication errors during transitions of care. Ensuring safe medication transitions is complex. It requires patients to be an active partner in their health to ensure that they have the information they need to use their medications safely.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Medication Incident and Near Miss Reporting Programs

Share your story about medication safety so that we can collect, aggregate, and analyze these lived experiences for sharing and action.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Virtual Primary Care

ISMP Canada and Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) collaborated with patients and prescribers to advance medication safety in virtual primary care. The project team used a multi-pronged approach: a review of the literature; an analysis of medication error reports associated with virtual care and a co-design event.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

World Patient Safety Day 2022

ISMP Canada is pleased to collaborate with the World Health Organization (WHO) on developing and implementing the Medication Without Harm Global Patient Safety Challenge. World Patient Safety Day 2022 (WPSD 2022) provides an important opportunity locally, provincially, nationally, and globally to raise awareness, engagement, empowerment, and action for improving medication safety!

Join us in acknowledging this important day and advancing medication safety across Canada.

Information includes:
- Invitation to the Med Safety Exchange Webinar on WPSD 2022, September 15
- Resources for engaging in the day and sharing the information with others

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

High-Alert Medications

High-alert medications are medications that bear a heightened risk of causing significant harm when they are used in error.
This list is intended to assist care organizations in developing their own, organization-specific high-alert medication list.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Incident Reporting

Incident reporting through Medication Incident and Near Miss Reporting Programs or Canadian Medication Incident Reporting and Prevention System (CMIRPS).

Hierarchy of Effectiveness

The reporting, investigation, and analysis of medication incidents are important elements in improving patient safety, and these efforts must be accompanied by effective strategies that address the contributing factors or vulnerabilities leading to the incidents.

Certain types of risk-mitigation strategies are known to be more effective than others, as illustrated by the Hierarchy of Effectiveness.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Canadian Medication Safety Network

The Canadian Medication Safety Network raises the voice of consumers and health care providers about medication safety issues as well as opportunities for improvement!

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Best Possible Medication History Interview Guide

ISMP Canada and GeriMedRisk have partnered to update the Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) Interview Guide. The Guide is intended to help health care providers complete a BPMH, in collaboration with the client and/or care partners.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

TEST – Strengthening Medication Safety in Long-Term Care

The Ministry of Long-Term Care (MLTC) in Ontario is partnering with ISMP Canada to support long-term care homes in strengthening medication safety.

Suggested Audience:
Consumers, Health Care Providers

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

FMEA is a technique used to identify process and product problems before they occur.

Suggested Audience:
Health Care Providers