The Medication Safety Officers Society (MSOS) is pleased to announce a new educational benefit just for MSOS members – MSOS Member Briefings.  Starting in March, the MSOS will provide free quarterly 1 hour webinars for MSOS members. Participants will hear short medication safety-related presentations from invited speakers on different topics and MSOS members focusing on what they have done at their organization to address a specific medication safety issue. These calls will also include a brief ISMP update on safety issues, and an opportunity to ask questions of the speakers.

Moderated by E. Robert Feroli, these webinars will not include CE credit, but are specifically designed to share ideas and experiences to enhance the knowledge of MSOS members on a variety of current medication safety topics. MSOS members will receive an email approximately a month prior to each call to register for the MSOS Member Briefings; the first of which is scheduled to be held on Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 1 pm EST. Attendance is limited for these programs, so be sure to sign up early. Stay tuned and check your email for MSOS News to register for these in this worthwhile sessions.

Do you know someone who is interested in a career in medication safety?  ISMP offers two unique 12-month fellowship programs to help prepare healthcare professionals to lead the way in medication safety.

The ISMP Safe Medication Management Fellowship, sponsored by Baxter International Inc., educates a healthcare practitioner in error prevention and safe medication use methods at the ISMP office in Horsham (near Philadelphia), PA.

The FDA/ISMP Safe Medication Management Fellowship allows healthcare practitioners to spend 6 months at the ISMP office in Horsham (near Philadelphia), PA and 6 months at the US Food and Drug Administration's Division of Medication Error Prevention and Analysis office in Silver Spring, MD (near Washington DC).

Applications for both 2017-2018 fellowship programs are due March 31, 2017. If you know anyone who might be interested in this opportunity, please forward this information to them. For more information, visit:  http://www.ismp.org/profdevelopment/default.asp 

There are two recently revised sets of "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) for the ISMP 2016-2017 Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals, Best Practices 2 and 5. There are also three new set of FAQs for best practices 7, 9 and 10. These changes can be found on the ISMP website at: http://www.ismp.org/tools/bestpractices/faq.aspx.

We want to inform you that ISMP has signed an agreement with ASHP to offer an online medication safety certificate program. Although ISMP plans to have online learning in the future with its new website, we thought this is a good opportunity for MSOS members, along with the other programs that ISMP currently offers. This certificate program will also offer continuing education for pharmacists, nurses, and physicians. Program development will begin shortly, and we will inform you once it is available. A press release will go out this week and be posted on the ISMP website (www.ismp.org).

ISMP has just released the first in a series of “video newsletters” being produced in partnership with the Temple University School of Pharmacy. The videos, which will be in a news format with short interviews, are designed to provide insight on key medication safety issues from nationally recognized experts. They will provide a summary of top content from the biweekly ISMP Medication Safety Alert! newsletter.

The first video, now available online, focuses on:

• *IV Push Medication Use
• *Eliminating Ratio Expressions
• *ISMP’s Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices

To view the first video in the ISMP video newsletter series, visit: http://2020visualmedia.com/ismp

We wish to thanks all those who came to the MSOS Networking Meeting and Reception at the 2016 ASHP Medication Safety Collaborative in Baltimore MD this past week. We had over 40 people attend both functions. We had some lively discussion on the new ISMP White Paper on the Value of the Medication Safety Officer, and on what is the definition of "harm" when classifying medication errors. We look forward to seeing you next year in Minneapolis. 

MSOS is interdisciplinary organization and we know first-hand what a group of like-minded patient safety advocates can accomplish in collaboration. The ASHP Medication Safety Collaborative (held in cooperation with MSOS) is not just for pharmacists. In that light, the ASHP is offering a special one-day rate ($250) for interprofessional clinicians and other non-ASHP members who want to experience the amazing opportunities and exceptional education found at the 2016 ASHP Medication Safety Collaborative (MSC) in Baltimore MD, June 11-15, 2016.

As a member of MSOS, if you are going to the ASHP Medication Safety Collarborative (Summer Meeting) in Baltimore MD, don't forget to join us for:

• ISMP Educational Session: “ISMP 2016 Updates: Best Practices to Enhance Patient Safety” on Sunday, June 12 from 10:30 am-12:30 pm in Ballroom III (Level 400).
• MSOS Members Networking Meeting on Sunday, June 12 from 12:30-1:30pm in Room 337 (Level 300) of the Baltimore Convention Center. 
• Member social reception- MSOS will be hosting an informal gathering with free drinks and small bites - Monday night, June 13, 2016 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the Kona Grill (1 East Pratt St - between St. Charles and Light Sts). Meet us in the bar/lounge area and say your are with MSOS.
• Information table - in the Upper Pratt Street lobby near ASHP Registration and the ASHP Store, and on the other side of the up-escalators from Starbucks. 

For more details click here.

Organizations are invited to participate in a research study that focuses on clinical alarms and alarm management. The survey developed and administered by the Healthcare Technology Foundation (HTF) is designed to ascertain attitudes and practices of health care personnel related to clinical alarms, as they are among the top health technology hazards. A nonprofit organization, HTF promotes the development, application, and support of safe and effective health care technologies. This survey will update the HTF surveys administered in 2006 and 2011 to determine changes in the perception of clinical alarm-related issues, event occurrence, improvement measures, and the priority for action. The survey can be found at https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/52RD8TH and ends April 15

ISMP's draft guidelines for safe use of subcutaneous insulin are open for public comment. Please visit this link (http://www.ismp.org/Tools/guidelines/SUSI/Default.aspx) to view and provide comments on the consensus statements. We appreciate your comments by Saturday April 30, 2016. This is the final opportunity to weigh in on the guidelines. We appreciate your commitment to safe medication use and look forward to reviewing your feedback.