Medication Safety Self Assessment® for Oncology

The ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessment® for Oncology is designed to:  

• Heighten awareness of distinguishing systems and practices related to the safe use of chemotherapy, biotherapy, and treatment-related drugs
• Assist your interdisciplinary team with proactively identifying opportunities for reducing patient harm when prescribing, storing, preparing, dispensing, and administering chemotherapeutic agents
• Create a baseline of your efforts to evaluate risk and evaluate efforts over time

The self assessment is divided into ISMP's Key Elements of the Medication Use System™.  Each key element is defined by one or more core characteristics of a safe medication use system.  Each core characteristic contains individual self-assessment items to help you evaluate the medication safety strategies in your organization.

This assessment tool has been made possible through grants from the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners (ISOPP), and the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) of New South Wales, Australia, and the Cancer Institute of New South Wales. Private sector support was received from Baxter Corp., ICU Medical, Inc., Pfizer Oncology, and Roche.  ISMP and ISMP Canada would like to thank these organizations for their continued support of efforts to improve medication safety in hospitals and pharmacies worldwide. 

_{ISMP and ISMP Canada are not standard setting organization. As such, the self-assessment items in this document are not purported to represent a minimum standard of practice and should not be considered as such. In fact, some of the self-assessment items represent innovative practices and system enhancements that are not widely implemented in healthcare facilities today. However, their value in reducing errors is grounded in scientific research and/or expert analysis of medication errors and their causes.}

 _{The ISMP International Medication Safety Self Assessment® for Oncology and its components are copyrighted by ISMP and ISMP Canada and may not be used in whole or in part for any other purpose or by any other entity except for self assessment of medication systems by hospitals, health systems, and ambulatory practices as part of their ongoing quality improvement activities.}