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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) today (May 27) published the biannual issue of Medication Safety Bulletin (MSB), which is one of the Authority's regular publications to promote risk management among healthcare professionals in public hospitals.
The latest issue highlights major changes in the newly updated "HA Guidelines on Safe Medication Management - Prescribing, Dispensing and Administration". In addition, a prompting alert of "Drug-Drug Interaction" was added in the Clinical Management System for drug combinations with the painkiller colchicine to improve patient safety.
The bulletin also shares Kowloon West Cluster's continuous quality improvements from near-miss experience. Healthcare staff are reminded to avoid free-text entry of a drug administration date to avoid misinterpretation of a prescription by the system. Recommendations on storage location and grouping of drugs are suggested to avoid confusion in dispensing.
The publication has already been posted on the web for sharing with healthcare professionals. Members of the public are also welcome to browse it at the following link: www.ha.org.hk/msb .
MSB is published every six months, on the last Fridays of May and November. The next issue will be published on November 25.
Ends/Friday, May 27, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:15
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