The National Healthcare Commission (NHC) has released a notification focusing on medication safety management and rational drug use. The notice outlines measures to enhance medication safety and promote rational drug use in medical institutions.
Key Measures
- Medication Safety Systems: Medical institutions are required to improve and implement relevant systems for medication safety. This includes enhancing the awareness and ability of medical and nursing staff to prevent medication errors and implementing full-process management for prescription issuance, dispensing, administration, and medication use.
- High-Risk Drug Management: A management system for high-risk drugs should be established, including warnings for drugs that may be confused due to similar names, appearance, or other factors.
- Special Groups: Special emphasis is placed on medication safety management for the elderly, children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups. For elderly patients, a hierarchical management system should be established based on different risk levels. For children, the “one variety, two specifications” limitation is waived, allowing for an increased number of medicines and their scope, with a focus on precise medicine. For pregnant women, strict management of all aspects of rational drug use is required.
- Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring: Drugs with numerous adverse reactions and significant safety hazards should be promptly removed from the institution’s drug supply catalog. Medical institutions must immediately suspend the use of a drug and actively treat patients if a serious adverse drug reaction is discovered, while reporting it as required.
Evaluation and Assessment
The management of drug safety will be included as part of the evaluation indicators for public hospitals. The weight of indicators related to rational drug use in the performance assessment of public hospitals will be increased.-Fineline Info & Tech
