Applied Medication Safety

This is our second interview with a Medication Safety pharmacist, and she doesn't sugarcoat any of the challenges we face in healthcare! It's a shorter episode, but packed with raw and relevant experience. 
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

Back to the general med/surg floors for this episode. A second hospitalist - a physician specializing in acute care for inpatients was kind enough to share his insights. 
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

We speak with a diversion expert about the intersection of opiate safety and diversion and the patients, staff, and institutions at the center. Terri Vidals hosts her own podcast "Drug Diversion Insights" and can be reached through her company's website at www.rxpert.solutions. This episode also appears on her podcast.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

This episode features a discussion with a pharmacy student who speaks about her experience in healthcare from two cultures. Her perspective as a first generation immigrant from an Asian country provides the foundation for many questions as it relates to opiate safety. The contrast between Eastern and Western medicine is never quite so apparent as when we are discussing how pain management concepts cross the cultural divide.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

We continue our conversations in the Intensive Care Unit with a pharmacist who has an impressive clinical knowledge base and deep understanding of medication therapy.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

We move from the general floors to the Intensive Care Unit where pain management takes a hard turn. Opiates are used as part of sedation protocols for ventilated patients, making the risks and concerns of oversedation very different than our discussions so far. This nurse shares great insights into the unique challenges of continuous opiate infusions.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

In this episode, we hear firsthand from a medication safety specialist about the process of submitting and interpreting safety events, and all the things that keep a safety specialist awake at night.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

Up to this point, safety has focused on avoiding excessive sedation effects of opiates - but what about palliative care where the purpose of therapy is the comfort of the patient. In this episode, we begin to explore the role of opiates and common misconceptions about palliative care. Patient care concerns created a shorter interview than usual.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

Now we move onto the general floors where we have a wonderful opportunity to speak with a hospitalist - a physician specializing in acute care for inpatients.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.

Taking a break from interviews, we talk about safety concerns in the procedural and operative areas through the lens of priming and drifting. One of the most famous legal events - the Vanderbilt wrong drug event - is discussed in this context.
Disclaimer: The first person narration of safety events is done to preserve the learning power of stories. The safety events discussed are fictional though the risks and safety concerns are very real. They are created from over decades from multiple home care, acute care, and long-term care institutions; and gathered from discussion with peers around the world who shared their stories to help others. In no way do these fictional safety events reflect the patient experience at my current employer. This podcast is purely a personal and private endeavor to enhance patient safety in some small way.
Hosted by Michael Van Ornum RPh, RN, BCPS, CPPS with over 30 years experience in the medical field and more than 10 years with medication safety.