On behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation, I had the incredible privilege of spending a few days at Banner Health in Phoenix last week, where I had the opportunity to share insights on High Reliability Organization (HRO) principles and the collective pursuit of zero preventable harm. The experience was truly inspiring!
The in-depth conversations I had with the pharmacy, nursing, and CMO teams before and after my presentations were both thought-provoking and very meaningful. It was evident in every discussion, just how deeply committed Banner Health’s entire team is to patient and medication safety. Their passion and unwavering dedication to driving significant, safety-focused change across their vast network of hospitals left a profound impression on me.
Reflecting on my own journey and the loss of my daughter Emily in 2006, I am reminded of the crucial impact proactive organizations like Banner Health have. By prioritizing the modification of core systems, processes, and protocols, they are setting a remarkable standard in preventing tragedies and improving patient outcomes. Though we may never be able to quantify the full extent of errors averted, the difference their vital work is making is significant and is ultimately saving countless lives!
Again, a heartfelt thank you to Mary Manning, PharmD, MBA, BCPS and Kristine S. for making this very productive and wonderful visit possible. I look forward to seeing the lasting impact of Banner Health’s commitment to cultivating a true Culture of Safety at all their facilities and supporting them on this important journey.
I’m excited to head to Arizona tomorrow morning for a series of speaking engagements for the Emily Jerry Foundation at Banner Health, a leading healthcare system with 30 hospitals across six states. The incredible caregivers at Banner are making remarkable progress in their journey to becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO), implementing strategies designed to reduce the likelihood of human error and prevent tragic incidents—like the one that affected my daughter Emily in 2006. Their unwavering commitment to patient and medication safety is truly inspiring!
This week, I have the honor of addressing leaders at the Banner Health Pharmacy Services Medication Safety Event on Wednesday. In addition, I’ll also be presenting to their nursing staff during the “Start with Heart: Medication Safety Program.” Then on Thursday, I’ll conclude with a presentation to all Banner Health CMOs at a system-wide meeting, focusing on HRO principles and their path toward Zero Harm.
I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to these important conversations and want to sincerely thank Mary Manning, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, and Kristine S. at Banner for making this all possible!
On behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation, I’m incredibly honored to be speaking at the University of Utah‘s College of Pharmacy in November. These sessions will focus on patient and medication safety and will be open to students, faculty, staff, preceptors, and alumni. A heartfelt thank you to my friend, Dr. Krystal Moorman-Bishir, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP, for this wonderful opportunity.
I’ll be speaking to the P1 and P2 PharmD students, who are already demonstrating the leadership and commitment needed to shape the future of healthcare and prevent medication errors. Pharmacy students have always inspired me. They are our future leaders, the ones who will continuously champion medication safety and make it the highest priority across all healthcare modalities, ensuring the best possible outcomes for every patient.
I’m confident that through the leadership of these students, countless lives will be saved from preventable medication errors—errors like the one that tragically took my daughter Emily’s life in 2006. Their dedication and expertise will play a pivotal role in advancing patient safety and ultimately saving countless lives during the course of their careers!
In addition to the student lectures, I’m also grateful for the privilege of delivering two CE-accredited presentations and look forward to sharing insights and discussing best practices in patient and medication safety with this dynamic and dedicated group!
During my visit to Germfree in Ormond Beach Florida, a few weeks ago, where I was invited to speak at their all-employee meeting, I also had the chance to do an interview. In it, I shared the heartfelt reasons behind my deep commitment to the work I’ve pursued so diligently over the years.
It’s hard to believe how much time has passed since I first began this incredible journey, following the path I truly felt called to take. This month marks 15 years since I founded the Emily Jerry Foundation, with the core mission of improving medication safety and preventing errors like the one that tragically took my beautiful daughter Emily from happening to others—actively working to be part of the solution to preventable medical errors and ultimately saving countless lives.
After having had the opportunity to witness firsthand, the profound dedication and vision of the entire Germfree team in developing their new Smarthood system, I’m more confident than ever that we can continue to come together to improve medication safety in IV compounding for all patients. This is why I’m so excited about the future of the new partnership between Germfree and the Emily Jerry Foundation. Our organizations are perfectly aligned with our core missions as we carry forward our shared passion for saving lives—a passion that clearly drives us all!
Watch the video on youtube at the following link (https://youtu.be/zlc-gttJ-BQ?si=y87slQ-wMcFKswuv) or in the embedded player below:
The week before last, I had the honor and privilege of speaking at an all-employee meeting at Germfree in Ormond Beach, Florida. It was a wonderful experience to have the opportunity to collaborate with this remarkable organization and their outstanding team, who have developed a cutting-edge technology solution for the complex sterile IV compounding process—one that truly promises to significantly improve medication safety overall. Companies like Germfree, offer the exact “technology tools” and systems I have long advocated for—tools that are proven to save countless lives by preventing the kinds of medication errors that tragically claimed my daughter Emily’s life in 2006.
Germfree‘s new Smarthood system is a highly innovative solution that integrates the horizontal laminar flow unit with a variety of seamlessly integrated peripheral devices used in conventional IV workflow systems. Their new design is completely software agnostic, which enables facilities to utilize their existing IV workflow software, while maintaining a clean & sterile workspace and consistent airflow.
Ever since establishing the Emily Jerry Foundation over 15 years ago, the primary mission has always been focused on preventing medication errors before they occur. This is why I have been such a vocal advocate for the smart adoption and implementation of technology like this in healthcare, as the essential tools to help eradicate the risk of “human error” in pharmacy workflows. This is precisely why I am so thrilled to align with the incredible team at Germfree, who share these same core values. EJF and Germfree are perfectly aligned, both organizations are extremely passionate about doing everything we possibly can to ultimately save lives!!
I’m so grateful for having had the great privilege and honor of delivering the keynote address at the Compounding Expert Committee (CEC) Summit hosted by BD at the end of April. The strong partnership that’s been established between the Emily Jerry Foundation and Becton Dickinson has been invaluable. Over the years, I have really appreciated their team’s support which has always been in complete alignment with EJF’s core mission of preventing tragedies before they occur, ultimately saving countless lives from medication errors.
During my time in San Diego, I participated in various meetings and activities
post-keynote. Engaging with the ten leading compounding experts provided yet another unique learning opportunity. The productive collaboration witnessed throughout the day, focused on advancing medication safety in the complex IV compounding process.
The entire meeting emphasized the vital importance of improving medication safety overall, which is why I’m absolutely thrilled to have been given the opportunity to contribute to this well-organized and successful event! My friend, Craig Greszler, is the Senior Manager of Medical Affairs at BD. For more insights into this past Summit, you can check out his recent blog post on their website by clicking on the following link:
I was thrilled and deeply honored to have the privilege of speaking on behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation at Temple University’s School of Pharmacy in Philadelphia, on Monday of last week. I’m so grateful for having had this opportunity which was provided by my good friend Dr. Lawrence Carey, PharmD, who is an Assistant Dean and Professor at Temple. I spoke to four separate classes that day, comprised of students at different stages of pursuing their doctorates in pharmacy (P1, P2, P3, & P4). The lectures were an hour each in duration, back-to-back.
Shortly afterwards, all four classes were then invited to attend a 45 minute follow up Q&A session in a much larger room that could accommodate everyone. I immediately let those in attendance know that no questions were off limits or too personal, which always seems to open the initial dialogue well. Over the years, by simply being open and transparent about literally every aspect of my journey, I’ve learned it inevitably leads to some great conversations, as I’m pleased to say it did with all these students. This made for a very long day, but it also made the day very fulfilling for me personally, pushing EJF’s core mission forward by having the ability to reach so many students. The reason I find days like these so gratifying is because I not only believe that these PharmD student’s strong and effective leadership exhibited throughout their careers will help lead the charge to help save countless lives from preventable medication errors…I also believe they are our future leaders in healthcare!
An extremely productive day, culminating in a wonderful dinner with Dr. S. Suresh Madhavan, the new Dean for Temple University’s School of Pharmacy, Dr. Lawrence Carey, and other esteemed faculty at Ralph’s in South Philly, which is recognized as being the oldest Italian restaurant in the United States!
Last week, it was such a privilege to have the opportunity to present before two convocations, consisting primarily of pharmacy technician students, at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis for their Area 31 Career Center. It’s one of the largest high schools in Indiana, with 3,270 students. Knowing what their enrollment was prior to my visit, I expected the school itself would be big. What I really didn’t realize though, was just how massive the main building for the school would be…it’s over a million square feet!
Equally impressive, to the “top notch” learning environment that’s been very firmly established for the students at Area 31, is their overall pharmacy technician career program that has been built on a very comprehensive underlying curriculum. Along those lines, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they are the only ASHP accredited high school program in the nation that offers an associate degree through their ongoing partnership with Vincennes University, also located in Indianapolis. When I first heard about this during my visit, it really struck me, when I pondered the notion that students in the Area 31 school district, could graduate with an associate degree, become state licensed technicians, sit for the PTCB National Certification Exam, all at the same time they are completing their High School Diploma!
Area 31, along with their dedicated faculty, truly exemplify everything I’ve been advocating so passionately for over the years, relating to pharmacy technicians and the vital role they all play in medication safety. This is why I’m truly grateful for having had this opportunity to speak to these students!
I’m pleased to say that I have been invited on April 4th to present before two convocations, consisting primarily of pharmacy technician students at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis for their Area 31 Career Center. Recently I learned that Ben Davis not only has one of the largest enrollments in Indiana, it also has the prestigious honor of receiving the National Award for Excellence in Education from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
When I first established the Emily Jerry Foundation 15 years ago, a pharmacist friend/mentor of mine, explained the vital role that pharmacy technicians play with respect to overall medication safety, and also how important their scope of practice truly is…that it’s certainly NOT just another job! He told me to think of the pharmacy technicians as being members of a professional sports team and to think of the supervising pharmacists as being their head coaches. This simple analogy has stuck with me to this day, and it’s precisely why I continue to advocate so strongly for having well educated, career oriented pharmacy technicians on ALL pharmacy teams. Bottom line, they are proven to significantly reduce the number of medication errors and prevent tragedies BEFORE they happen! This is also why I feel so privileged and honored to have this wonderful opportunity to speak to these students… really looking forward to this event!
The Emily Jerry Foundation is determined to help make our nation’s, world renowned, medical facilities safer for everyone, beginning with our babies and children. We are accomplishing this very important objective by focusing on increasing public awareness of key patient safety related issues and identifying technology and best practices that are proven to minimize the “human error” component of medicine. Through our ongoing efforts The Emily Jerry Foundation is working hard to save lives every day.
Posted: December 2, 2024 by ejfadmin
EJF Recent Visit to University of Utah College of Pharmacy and University of Utah Health Hospital
I’m incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to represent the Emily Jerry Foundation during my recent visit to the University of Utah College of Pharmacy and University of Utah Health Hospital. Over two full days, I had the privilege of delivering four presentations centered on patient and medication safety to a remarkable audience of PharmD students (P1-P4), faculty, clinicians, and healthcare leaders.
The experience began Thursday morning with an inspiring discussion alongside clinician leaders and stakeholders from various modalities at the University of Utah Health Hospital. I was deeply impressed by their unwavering commitment to patient safety and their forward-thinking approach to implementing systems that effectively mitigate the risk of human error in clinical and pharmacy workflows. Our in-depth conversations explored collaborative strategies that I am confident will drive lasting improvements in safety across healthcare settings. We finished up a very productive and wonderful day at the college, in their L.S Skaggs Auditorium, where I was given the opportunity to provide a CE accredited presentation titled, “From Tragedy to Triumph – Mitigating the Risk of Human Error to Save Lives.”
On Friday, I had the honor of addressing two large groups of PharmD students. These future healthcare leaders embody the passion, dedication, and resolve needed to make medication safety their top priority throughout their careers. Their enthusiasm and proactive engagement were truly inspiring. I have no doubt their leadership will save countless lives by advancing medication safety practices and fostering a strong culture of safety in healthcare.
A heartfelt thank you to my friend, Dr. Krystal Moorman-Bishir, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP and her entire team for making this visit possible. I also want to express my gratitude to everyone I met from the University of Utah campus community for your warm welcome and for making this experience so impactful. It was truly an honor to work alongside such incredible individuals who all share the exact same vision for of a safer, brighter future in healthcare!