In an effort to reduce the factor of medication-related errors, and the potential and consequential damages, the Irada Mental Health Complex in Riyadh attaches great importance to patient safety, and one of the pillars of that is drug safety, as it implements a number of important programs aimed at confronting potential risks associated with medication before they occur.
The Executive Director of the complex, Dr. Hassan Al-Shehri, explained that the nature of the psychological disorders and symptoms suffered by psychiatric patients and addiction patients may limit their understanding and ability to realize the consequences of therapeutic interventions, and that this calls for their urgent need for safe psychological care and sound medical care with great care and accuracy regarding safety. Treatment procedures and medical services provided to them, stressing the complex’s keenness to continuously improve the performance of all services, and to implement several projects aimed at enhancing safety for this category of patients.
For her part, the supervisor of the Clinical Pharmacy Unit at the complex, Alaa Al-Quait, stated that the complex addresses medication errors through 5 important programs that contribute to enhancing the safety of mentally ill and drug-addicted patients.
She noted that these programs include a drug consultation clinic, which is concerned with enhancing the drug culture of the patient and his family, reducing errors, avoiding the wrong use of the drug, defining the means and methods of preserving drugs and the appropriate conditions for preserving them. It also includes the Drug Information Center, which aims to reduce medication errors by providing drug information based on scientific evidence. To health care providers to help them make the necessary and appropriate decisions.
Medicines dispensed during the past year:
- 156,583 recipes, including:
- 14,252 prescriptions were delivered to patients at their homes.
- 3200 visits received by the Clinical Pharmacy Unit.