Institute for Safe Medication Practices
1800 Byberry Road, Suite 810, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
www.ismp.org

ISMP Announces 9th Annual Cheers Awards Recipients

Huntingdon Valley, Pa.—The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is proud to announce its 9th Annual Cheers Awards winners and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. The annual awards dinner and reception will be held on Tuesday evening, December 5, 2006, at the Hilton Anaheim hotel during the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting in Anaheim, CA.
The Cheers Awards honor individuals, organizations, and companies that have set a superlative standard of excellence for others to follow in the prevention of medication errors and adverse drug events. The winners of this year’s awards are:

EvansArmy Community Hospital Soldier Readiness Processing Team

Ft. Carson, CO
This innovative program provides one-on-one counseling to soldiers regarding their medications, including safe use and storage under battlefield conditions. A pharmacist reviews soldiers’ medication profiles to help determine if they are fit for duty, and makes recommendations regarding non-deployment status if medication therapy is not considered safe under extreme circumstances. The program is being recommended as a protocol for all branches of the military.

Ilene Corina

President, Persons United Limiting Substandards and Errors in Healthcare (PULSE)
Long Island, NY
Corina is co-founder and leader of a nonprofit support group and organization working to improve patient safety and reduce the rate of medical errors, using real-life stories and experiences from patients and their families. She spearheaded the first Patient Safety Awareness Week to emphasize the need for partnership between healthcare providers and patients, and has presented educational programs on working with the survivors of medical errors.

Joyce Generali, MS, RPh, FASHP

Director of Drug Information
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, KS
Four years ago, Generali began creating the first complete list of Black Box Warnings (BBWs). Her list, which is continuously updated and free to the general public, encompasses every BBW from the Physician’s Desk Reference. Generali thoroughly cross-checks the information with other references, and has incorporated material from FDA’s MedWatch program to ensure the list reflects current recommendations.

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital

Hollister, CA
Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital (HHMH) is a role model for implementation of medication safety efforts in a small organization. HHMH, a critical access hospital, formed an ongoing, multidisciplinary Advanced Medication Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiative that has been extremely effective in encouraging error reporting. It also has led to pharmacist “safe rounds” and a computerized system for controlled medication distribution to patients.

Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)

Nashville, TN
HCA has an impressive record of employing new medication safety technology. The company began an initiative in 2000 that led to rapid deployment of barcoding and electronic medical records in all 186 member hospitals. HCA also testified before the FDA on the need for manufacturers to provide bar codes on unit dose packaging, and required their purchasing group to award immediate contracts to companies providing unit dose medications with readable bar codes.

Huntington Memorial Hospital

Pasadena, CA
Huntingdon Hospital has demonstrated the effect an emergency department pharmacist can have on preventing errors. The hospital created an ED pharmacist position, which reviews medication orders for appropriateness, allergies, and drug interactions. The ED pharmacist also provides educational inservices for staff and leads a medication-use committee. The hospital has seen an impressive 50% reduction in pediatric medication errors since implementation of the service.

KatrinaHealth.org

KatrinaHealth.org is an online service designed as a single source of comprehensive medical and prescription histories for healthcare providers treating evacuees from hurricane Katrina. A preliminary beta site was launched within two weeks of the hurricane’s landfall, and full rollout occurred in less than one month. The website was created through an unprecedented collaboration of private companies, public agencies, and national organizations.

Therese Staublin, Pharm.D.

Drug Use Review Coordinator
St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers
Beech Grove, IN
Staublin will receive the ISMP Volunteer Award for her outstanding commitment to helping the Institute learn more about medication errors and error prevention strategies. Her interdisciplinary perspective has made her an invaluable member of the ISMP acute care and nursing newsletter advisory boards. Staublin has provided unique input that has helped ISMP staff view safety issues in new ways, and supplied fresh ideas for addressing those issues in clinical practice.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Shadyside Campus

Pittsburgh, PA
UPMC Shadyside is one of the first hospitals in the nation to invite patients and families to call for a rapid response team to address unresolved concerns about their safety and health. Patients and family members are invited to pick up the phone to report a “Condition H” at any time of day if they fear something is seriously medically wrong and their concerns have not been addressed. Initial calls have all been appropriate and provided valuable learning opportunities in patient communication.

The ISMP Lifetime Achievement Award is being presented to Gordon Schiff, MD, Senior Attending Physician and Director of Clinical Quality Research and Improvement, Department of Medicine, Cook County (Stroger) Hospital in Chicago. The award honors individuals who throughout their careers have made ongoing contributions to patient safety. A nationally-recognized expert on medical errors, Dr. Schiff has conducted studies that demonstrate ways medication mistakes by physicians result from failure to link clinical laboratory and pharmacy information systems. He is a founding member of the Chicago Patient Safety Forum and served on the United States Pharmacopeia’s Safe Medication Use Expert Committee.

The ISMP Medication Safety Alert!Subscriber Award is being presented to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in Pittsburgh, PA in recognition of its sustained, long-term initiative to integrate recommendations from the ISMP Medication Safety Alert!® newsletter into the work of internal patient safety committees.

Charles R. Denham, MD, will deliver the keynote address for the 9th annual Cheers Awards. He is Chairman of Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT) in Austin, TX, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to driving the adoption of clinical solutions in healthcare performance improvement, and has worked with many top healthcare groups to pursue advances in patient safety. Dr. Denham is co-chair of the National Quality Forum (NQF) Safe Practices Consensus Committee and chair of a multi-year initiative by the Leapfrog Group that annually ranks all U.S. hospitals against the NQF safe practices.

The Cheers Awards are hosted by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), a nonprofit organization that works closely with healthcare practitioners and institutions, regulatory agencies, consumers, and professional organizations to provide education about medication errors and their prevention. ISMP represents more than 30 years of experience in helping healthcare practitioners keep patients safe, and continues to lead efforts to improve the medication use process.

Journalists are invited to attend the awards reception and dinner, beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at the Hilton Anaheim hotel. Honorees will be available for interviews at a reception before the dinner or by appointment afterwards. If you plan to attend, please make your reservation by contacting Renee Brehio at 704-321-3343 or rbrehio@ismp.org no later than Friday, December 1.