Hospitalwide medication policies and standards.

The development and composition of a hospitalwide medication policies and standards manual are described. Medication policies and procedures developed independently by individual hospital departments and services at a 789-bed private teaching institution created problems related to consistency, the approval process, accreditation standards, and retrievability. Therefore, a joint nursing-pharmacy task force was formed to create a master document containing medication policies and standards for the entire institution. The manual also contains departmental medication-related procedures, the formulary of approved drugs, and key drug information. Its format allows for periodic updating and ease of use by nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and other health care professionals. It meets the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requirement of a collaborative framework to ensure optimal medication-use outcomes. All medication-related procedures in individual departments must comply with the new policies and standards. A hospitalwide medication policy manual, created through multidisciplinary collaboration, made the policies and procedures consistent and more accessible and met JCAHO and other regulatory requirements.