Examining Antithrombotic Therapy

Hospital officials throughout theUnited States are being asked to assessantithrombotic therapy. The Institutefor Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)Medication Safety Self-Assessment forAntithrombotic Therapy in Hospitalswill help health care organizationsexamine medication-safety practicesassociated with prescribing, dispensing,administration, and monitoringof therapy in their facilities. The participantswill review 125 differentcharacteristics that considerably impactmedication safety when patientsreceive antithrombotic medications,including anticoagulants and thrombolyticagents.

As with previous ISMP self-assessmentsurveys, hospitals are beingasked to assemble multidisciplinaryteams to participate and provide arange of perspectives. Institution officialsare encouraged to submit theirdata through a secure Web-basedform, which will allow them to comparetheir weighted scores with aggregatedata from other demographicallysimilar hospitals. The deadline fordata submission is September 1, 2005.Collected data are scheduled to bereleased in early 2006 and will be usedto support ISMP's medication-safetyefforts.