JCAHO’s National Patient Safety Goal 3D requires that hospitals “label all medications, medication containers (e.g., syringes, medicine cups, basins), or other solutions on and off the sterile field in perioperative and other procedural settings.”

In a Q&A with PP&P, accreditation expert Lee Murdaugh addresses pharmacy’s role in compliance with this goal.

Q: What is the pharmacy’s role in meeting JCAHO’s National Patient Safety Goal 3D?

A: First of all, I think the pharmacy needs to be very involved in any committees or teams that are working to meet this goal. If a committee hasn’t been set up to meet this goal, pharmacy should be proactive and create one. It should be a collaborative process between all of the disciplines that are directly and indirectly involved with this particular area. The pharmacist’s main role is to provide education about labeling and to help their hospitals find and evaluate labeling supplies. After all, pharmacists are the experts on medication labeling. I have found, in many hospitals, pharmacy has not been involved in the ordering of the medication labels to meet 3D, and the surgery department or other department ordering the supplies may not realize that certain products are not acceptable to meet this goal. Pharmacy can also help the committee to decide how they want to show the hospital’s compliance with the goal through quality monitors and documentation.

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