Patient safety

The aim of this programme is to provide you with background knowledge relating to patient safety and risk management, and to give you the opportunity to apply this to practice. It is also intended to help you effectively respond to, and manage, patient safety incidents.

Learning Objectives:

• patient safety concepts and the terminology relating to them
• systems and practice which can impact on patient safety
• how root cause analysis can be used when responding to patient safety incidents
• how to apply learning from patient safety incidents to future practice
• the best way to approach discussions about safety incidents with patients and colleagues.

The aim of this learning resource is to give you the skills, knowledge and confidence to deal professionally with safeguarding issues.

#CPPEsafeguarding

Learning Objectives:

• summarise the background and policy surrounding the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults and the issues this raises for pharmacy professionals
• convey the importance of pharmacy professionals increasing their awareness of abuse, neglect and child sexual exploitation (CSE) and developing ways of working with other health professionals to promote best practice to deal with situations involving suspected abuse, neglect and CSE
• highlight situations in which you are best placed to observe signs of abuse, neglect and CSE and the legal issues to consider when making a referral
• identify sources of useful information and contacts for the development of local procedures for dealing with suspected abuse, neglect or CSE observed in the pharmacy setting
• confidently make a referral to the appropriate local contacts should the need ever arise.

This guide supports pharmacy professionals who want to learn more about how they can manage the risks that are inherent in their practice. It signposts you to the most appropriate places for your learning and to other key resources.

If you are using the interactive PDF version of this programme, please ensure you download and save a copy of it to your computer before attempting to make and save any changes. If you try and make changes in your browser, there is a strong likelihood of losing your work.

Learning Objectives:

• understand the risks associated with your professional practice
• prioritise the risks in your workplace
• identify the steps that you can take to reduce risk associated with your practice.

The aim of this programme is to support pharmacy professionals with calculations in clinical settings when preparing, prescribing or checking medicines or when advising other healthcare professionals. The principles can be applied to any sector of pharmacy practice.

If you need to revisit any basic mathematical concepts please access our Dispensary-based calculations for pharmacy technicians e-learning programme.

Learning Objectives:

• calculate ideal body weight and adjusted body weight for patients and explain when these calculations may be necessary
• estimate a patient’s creatinine clearance using the Cockcroft and Gault equation and apply this when calculating the dose of a medicine
• use molar mass to calculate the volume of a dose prescribed in millimoles
• convert between different formulations of opioid medicines
• interpret weight per volume strengths of medicines
• recognise the additional risks presented when making calculations involving medicines for children
• explain what a displacement volume is and use it to calculate the volume of diluent required for reconstitution of a powder for injection
• create a reducing dose regime for a continuous intravenous infusion
• describe the factors that should be taken into account when converting solid oral preparations to other formulations of medicines
• convert solid oral doses of medicines into equivalent doses in other formulations
• adapt calculation answers to practical doses which can be administered to patients.

This e-learning programme will help improve your knowledge about adverse drug reaction prevalence and the characteristics of different types of adverse drug reactions. You will be able to discuss examples of adverse drug reactions and the stages of drug marketing.

This programme is Part 1 of a three part series that will help you develop your patient safety role by increasing your understanding of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), their identification, reporting and prevention.

A range of case studies is available in Adverse drug reactions Part 3. The case studies appear as a 'video wall' providing patient scenarios in both hospital and community practice.

Please note: this e-learning programme has been developed and provided by the Welsh Centre for Pharmacy Professional Education (WCPPE). Users should recognise that this programme may refer to Welsh policies and organisations. CPPE does not maintain control over the accuracy and currency of this programme.

Learning Objectives:

• define and classify adverse drug reaction
• discuss the prevalence of adverse drug reactions in a variety of clinical practice settings
• assess the characteristics of each type of adverse drug reaction
• describe examples of adverse drug reactions
• appraise the stages of drug evaluation pre- and post-marketing.

This e-learning programme has been designed to develop your confidence in reporting adverse drug reactions.

This programme is Part 2 of a three-part series that will help you develop your patient safety role by increasing your understanding of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), their identification, reporting and prevention.

A range of case studies is available in Adverse drug reactions Part 3. The case studies appear as a 'video wall', providing patient scenarios in both hospital and community practice.

Please note: this e-learning programme has been developed and provided by the Welsh Centre for Pharmacy Professional Education (WCPPE). Users should recognise that this programme may refer to Welsh policies and organisations. CPPE does not maintain control over the accuracy and currency of this programme.

Learning Objectives:

• explain the importance of adverse drug reaction reporting
• summarise the process that led to the introduction of medicines regulation in the UK
• explain how the Yellow Card Scheme works
• differentiate between serious and non-serious ADRs and identify when completion of a Yellow Card is recommended by the MHRA
• complete a Yellow Card
• understand the pathway of a Yellow Card following submission to the MHRA
• list the potential safety actions that the MHRA can take following an ADR report.

This e-learning programme focuses on which patients may be at risk of adverse drug reactions and encourages you to develop strategies for communicating those risk factors to patients. You will be able to extend your knowledge about patient Yellow Card reporting and the role patients play in improving patient safety.

This programme is Part 3 of a three-part series that will help you develop your patient safety role by increasing your understanding of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), their identification, reporting and prevention.

You can also apply your learning from all three parts of this learning series by completing the case studies presented as a 'video wall' in the final section of this programme.

Please note: this e-learning programme has been developed and provided by the Welsh Centre for Pharmacy Professional Education (WCPPE). Users should recognise that this programme may refer to Welsh policies and organisations. CPPE does not maintain control over the accuracy and currency of this programme.

Learning Objectives:

• outline patient characteristics and drug factors which increase the risk of adverse drug reactions
• assess factors to take into account when deciding if an adverse drug reaction has taken place
• communicate risk of adverse drug reactions to patients using appropriate risk tools
• recommend evaluated internet information resources to patients
• identify patients who would benefit from increased awareness of Yellow Card reporting
• list examples where patient reporting has triggered the MHRA to conduct a product review
• assess a patient for adverse drug reactions and take appropriate action.

This takes you to the CPPE Safeguarding gateway page

This course looks at the principles which inform good prescribing and details the more common reasons for prescribing errors.

This e-assessment is linked with the CPPE Patient safety: an anticoagulant case study focal point programme, and assesses you on the learning objectives within that programme.

Why should I do this assessment?

This e-assessment is linked with the CPPE Risk management guide and assesses you on the learning objectives within that programme.

Why should I do this assessment?

The aim of this programme is to help you evaluate the systems and processes used by your practice and consider the changes that you can make to optimise these in order to minimise medicines-related patient safety incidents (PSIs) and keep patients safe.

If you want to receive hard copies of these materials for you and your colleagues please access them through the Learning communities section of our website.

Learning Objectives:

• define patient safety in relation to medicines
• discuss the processes used by your practice to prevent patient safety incidents involving high-risk medicines
• evaluate the contributory factors and root causes of a medicines-related patient safety incident
• evaluate your practice's processes for dealing with patient safety alerts

NHS webpage to search for resources on medication safety.

This supporting information gives additional information and clarification on the thinking behind this Patient Safety Alert and its recommended actions. The alert ‘Improving medication error incident reporting and learning’ recommends changes to strengthen clinical governance arrangements, and the identification of medication safety officers (MSOs) and multi-professional groups to review medication error incidents and improve medication safety locally.

This handbook provides practical information and resources to support those who have been designated Medication Safety Officer in their organisation. It is particularly relevant to people new in post or as a quick refresh for established staff.

These alerts rapidly warn the healthcare system of risks. They provide guidance on preventing potential incidents that may lead to harm or death.

You can download the full prescribing competency framework or an editable template.