Pharmacy’s Greatest Tragedies: Lessons from a History of Medication Errors - FL APPROVED

It was Winston Churchill who famously declared, “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” In the profession of pharmacy, our history is marked by both incredible achievements and horrific tragedy. In this session, we respectfully look back on some of our greatest tragedies, searching for the answers of what went wrong … and, more importantly, what has changed since each incident occurred. Moreover, as technologies advance, we find that opportunities for error do not necessarily decrease, but instead present new sources for error. In this session, past tragedies and errors are examined and explored as critical “lessons learned”. Additionally, new technologies are discussed, with a conversation around fundamental processes that must be in place for every pharmacy to be vigilant and proactive in reducing patient harm.