What is PQC - A Quick overview

Improving the quality of pharmacy practice and promoting patient safety is a focal point for state pharmacy associations. Reduction of medical errors and implementation of a continuous quality improvement process is in the forefront of today’s healthcare agenda.  PQC provides the tools for community pharmacists to meet the growing emphasis on controlling medication errors, provides methods to decrease costs by reducing errors in everyday workflow and increases patient safety, by providing an analysis that the pharmacy can use to implement more efficient ways of reducing medication errors.  State Pharmacy Associations have become marketing partners with NASPA in order to be in the forefront of this issue as the emphasis on quality improvement grows.

Pharmacy Quality Commitment® (PQC) was developed for the purpose of providing risk management services to pharmacists.  The core philosophy of PQC is that pharmacists and pharmacy staff will work as team members in an organized effort to evaluate past failures of quality, and commit to policies that have been developed to prevent future failures of quality. It is a non-punitive, blame free program that recognizes that pharmacists are human and that humans make mistakes.  It strives to reduce medication errors in the pharmacy by offering structures and method improvement and a feedback system that allows the pharmacist to correct the processes in the pharmacy that can potentially lead to medication errors.

PQC is a two-part system that enables a pharmacy to identify, document and analyze workflow through a simple web-based system. It is compromised of the Sentinel®  workflow system, which offers a standardized workflow for the pharmacy to set up based on 20 “best pharmacy practices”. It is designed to be easily implemented into the pharmacy in a full or graduated start. The other component, the Quality Manager® on line audit portion of the program, directs that the pharmacy collect all medication error and medication intervention information using the Process Related Events Reporting form.  The data from the sheets are entered daily into a simple, secure internet site unique to each pharmacy via a password access code. After several weeks of reporting, the pharmacy is able view report data from their pharmacy with the click of a button, using report icons on their login screen.  More detailed reports are available if desired. This easy to use program streamlines the reporting process as it virtually eliminates paperwork.  With the click of a button, the pharmacist is able to access graphic analysis of entered data which enables him/her to track medication error trends within pharmacy and establish methods to reduce and eliminate them.

While we are committed to the Pharmacy Quality Commitment system as it stands today, we advocate continuous quality improvement and believe that that goes for PQC as well.  NASPA frequently calls upon our user group community  in order to get feedback on what components work best and what components can be improved upon. 

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