Irish Medication Safety Network
Follow @IMSN_ie
Who Are We?
The IMSN is a voluntary, independent group of hospital pharmacy based specialists with an interest in medication safety.
Our principal aim is to improve patient safety with regard to the
use of medicines.
We promote the exchange of information on medication safety and
facilitate national and
global initiatives to help minimize risks to patients.
Membership
The IMSN was established in late 2007, and has
over 50 members
with representation from most major hospitals in the country in both
the private and public sector. Meetings are held approximately
bimonthly. To facilitate efficient conduct of our business at
meetings, a membership policy has been agreed whereby
representatives of all sectors and regions attend meetings.
In addition, all hospitals are encouraged to nominate a member for
circulation to whom minutes of meetings, guidelines, discussion
documents, etc. will be circulated directly by the correspondence
secretary. All comments and feedback should be addressed to your
representative who will ensure that it is communicated
appropriately.
Activities
To date, our work has included:
• liaison with relevant State bodies, IMB, HSE, HIQA
and the Department of Health, with
manufacturers, and with the International Medication Safety Network.
Network members are participating in two of the projects arising
from the Madden Report “Building a Culture of Patient safety”: the
Medication Safety project and the Adverse Event project.
• publication of medication safety briefings and alerts in
the Pharmacy Journal and Clinical Indemnity Scheme Newsletter (e.g. Methotrexate,
Vincristine, strong opioid patches, Oxycodone oral solution). We
also recently published a collaborative review of Medication Safety
in Irish Hospitals in the Irish Medical Journal (Nov/Dec 2009).
• development of guidelines on management of identified
High Alert drugs, e.g. Potassium concentrate, Insulin, sound-alike
look-alike drugs (SALADs), safe use of epidural agents.
Our 2011 Medication Safety Conference "Networking for Safety in Cancer Care" was held on the 7th of October in Farmleigh House, Dublin.
