Supply chain vulnerabilities can lead to equipment and drug shortages which can result in adverse events; the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated these problems. This review explains what makes the healthcare supply chain vulnerable and suggests potential solutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated urgent changes in all clinical settings including community and hospital pharmacies. This commentary describes global threats to patient safety (rapidly changing clinical evidence, counterfeit medications, drug shortages) and strategies pharmacy leaders can implement to maintain patient safety.

Based on survey responses from 1,002 participants, this study evaluated how social media users assess, interact and engage with information related to the illegal sales of prescription medicines. Findings suggest that individuals generally perceive online pharmacies and social media platforms to be safe and respondents are confident in their ability to acquire legitimate medicines. The authors note that this false confidence has the potential to lead to patient harm given the prevalence of counterfeit and substandard medication available on these platforms.

… Journal of pharmacy practice … J Pharm Pract … Researchers administered a survey to state …

… the official publication of the Infusion Nurses Society … J Infus Nurs … Mistakes in intravenous push medication …

… Journal of patient safety … J Patient Saf … Errors in intravenous medication …

… Commission journal on quality and patient safety … Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf … Medication errors related to insulin use …

… of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists … Am J Health Syst Pharm … Trigger tools , which identify possible …

Frontline and organizational leadership are key to implementing and sustaining safety improvement efforts. This commentary describes management principles that can prepare individuals as leaders in implementing a medication safety program, including skills in team-building, communication, tracking project progress, and encouraging innovation.

Parenteral nutrition (PN) can result in patient harm if prepared or administered improperly. Recent shortages of PN ingredients have forced pharmacies to deviate from guidelines for safe PN preparation, but this study found that the incidence of errors has not increased.

Implementation of barcode-assisted medication administration was associated with an 80% reduction in medication administration errors in an urban emergency department.

… journal of the American College of Medical Quality … Am J Med Qual … Organ transplant patients are at high risk for …

… journal of the American College of Medical Quality … Am J Med Qual … This study provides an example of how formal …

… of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists … Am J Health Syst Pharm … Analysis of MEDMARX data found that  …

… framework, implementation steps, and lessons learned. … Weber RJ. Hosp Pharm. 2008;43:1016-1023. …

… and collecting and analyzing error data. … Mark SM; Weber RJ. …

… of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists … Am J Health Syst Pharm … The researchers analyzed adverse drug …

… Am J Med Qual … Am J Med Qual … The authors describe a strategy for …

… Commission journal on quality and patient safety … Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf … This medication safety study describes a … in similar implementation strategies. … Kowiatek JG; Weber RJ; Skledar SJ; Frank S; DeVita M. …