Module titles
| Module title | Outline of content |
|---|---|
| Medication safety—why is it important? | Introduction, the scale of the problem nationally, local issues identified within the trust |
| Using the drug chart | Understanding the different sections of the drug chart, understanding pharmacists’ endorsements, common problems that arise and how to avoid them |
| Drug omissions | Types and causes of omissions, remedies to reduce inappropriate omissions, case studies |
| One-stop dispensing | Why we use one-stop dispensing, using drugs from different supply lines (patients’ own, ward stock and individually dispensed drugs), drug management at transfer and discharge |
| Medication and blood transfusion incident reporting | Medication incidents and clinical incidents, how incident reports are used to reduce risks, how and when to report different types of incident, informing the patient |
| Drug calculations | The basics, calculating infusion rates and doses, calculations for liquids and tablets |
| Blood | Examples of blood transfusion errors, identifying and reporting incidents and reactions, policy and practice in blood transfusion |
| Warfarin | Why warfarin requires special attention, dose adjustments and monitoring, key messages for patient education |
| Vancomycin and gentamicin | Vancomycin and gentamicin are not “one size fits all” drugs, selecting the initial vancomycin dose, dosing and monitoring of vancomycin, selecting the initial gentamicin dose, dosing and monitoring of gentamicin |
| Infusion pumps | How to prepare and use infusion pumps, glossary of important terms, features of specific modules used in the trust |
| Teamwork and systems | Communication between different members of the team, hand overs, role of the pharmacist, case studies where things go wrong |