Judy Smetzer, BSN, RN, FISMP

Retired

Judy Smetzer is currently retired; she previously served as a Vice President at ISMP. 

The American Public Health Association honored Judy with the 2002 Avedis Donabedian Award for her work in medication safety. In 2012, she was awarded The Way-Paver for BPOC (Bar-code Point of Care) Award from the TerraPharma Project. In 2013, Judy was the first nurse recipient of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Board of Directors’ Award of Honor. 

In 1974, Judy received a diploma from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing, Bethlehem, PA, leading to registered nurse licensure in PA. In 1992, she received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA.

Judy has been a tireless advocate for the just treatment of individuals who practice in healthcare environments as well as advancing continuous improvement of medication use systems. Judy has applied the Just Culture principles to complex cases and published seminal articles about Just Culture in the ISMP Medication Safety Alert! newsletters and peer-reviewed literature. She has been a role model, influencing new generations of practitioners and administrators to evaluate their systems for workplace justice. “We have all been inspired by Judy’s commitment to both patient safety and to her advocacy for a more fair and just response to medication errors,” adds David Marx, CEO of The Just Culture Company. 

Judy