Empowering pharmacists with data: Steps toward proactive medication safety and quality improvement

Abstract

Pharmacists play a crucial role in medication safety and quality improvement in healthcare, yet face significant challenges due to limited data access, poor data quality, and insufficient data management skills. National pharmacy organizations emphasize the importance of pharmacists using data effectively to improve patient care. This paper suggests several strategies to overcome data challenges, including more widespread adoption of a Chief Pharmacy Informatics Officer (CPIO) role in healthcare institutions, the development and validation of medication safety metrics and dashboards, and the incorporation of data analysis and application skills into pharmacist education and training. The creation of the CPIO position is proposed to lead efforts in data management and use for medication safety. Additionally, establishing clear medication safety metrics and dashboards is recommended to monitor and improve safety practices. To support these roles and tools, enhancing pharmacist training in data analytics is deemed essential. Implementing these strategies aims to empower pharmacists to engage more effectively in proactive medication safety and quality improvement efforts. This approach is expected to address current gaps in data utilization and management, facilitating a more informed method for pharmacists to make healthcare safe for patients.