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I received this update via Facebook on October 26th from my friend Leigh Ann Briscoe-Dwyer, Former Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Pharmedium Services, LLC and I just had to share the news of this great win for patient safety(!)…

“Seven years ago, I had the honor of representing NY at the ASHP House of Delegates. Our delegation met with Christopher Jerry, the father of Emily Jerry who tragically died as the result of a medication error. His question on that day was: “When is NY going to do something about pharmacy technicians?” We didn’t have an answer.

Today we do.

Yesterday Governor Cuomo signed a bill recognizing pharmacy technicians, requiring certification and baseline qualifications and outlining the specific duties that technicians may perform. It’s not a perfect bill but it’s what we have.

We made a promise to Chris that day over seven years ago. Finally we can say we made good on that promise.”

This is a huge step in the right direction and I applaud the efforts of the state of New York and all of the patient and caregiver advocates that helped bring this to fruition.

I was honored to give a talk to help kick off the University Hospitals Quality & Patient Experience Medical Staff Summit, yesterday evening, at Fowler’s Mill in Chesterland, Ohio. It was also great to see my friend Dr. Peter Pronovost (to my left) in attendance. Peter is a critical care physician who is world renowned for his work in patient safety. Very early on, when I was first establishing the Emily Jerry Foundation, and just learning about patient & medication safety, high reliability organizations, clinical workflow, etc., he was one of the very first clinical experts to actually pick up the phone and take my call, providing much needed advice and direction with the work I am so passionate about today! Hard to believe that it was over ten years ago, when he was still at Johns Hopkins! Now, I am very pleased to say that Peter is the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals in my hometown of Cleveland!

I just arrived in Houston, Texas for the TSHP Neonatal & Pediatric Pharmacy Symposium, where I will be giving the Keynote Address titled, “From Heartbreak to Victory – Saving Lives by Preventing Errors Before They Happen!”

I had the great privilege of being invited to give a CE accredited lecture today, on medication safety, to the amazing pharmacy team at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Next week, I’m really looking forward to heading to Houston, to give the Keynote at the Texas Society for Health System Pharmacists (TSHP) Neonatal & Pediatrics Symposium!

Really looking forward to giving the keynote address tomorrow morning with Eric Cropp, at the Northeastern Regional Hematology Oncology Pharmacists Symposium (NEHOPS). Right after Eric and I did an interview together in May of 2011, for a Discovery Channel patient safety documentary, we had the opportunity to give a number of CE accredited lectures & presentations, all over the United States, that were very well received. However, tomorrow’s keynote, will be the first time we will have had the opportunity to present together in the past five years.

I spent the day, yesterday, in Harrisburg, working with a stellar team of pharmacy experts from the Pennsylvania Society of Health System Pharmacists (PSHP). The primary focus of the day, was on educating the legislators on the vital importance of passing PA HB770 (Pharmacy Technicain Registration and Training) from an overall public safety standpoint.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is one of only four states, that currently have absolutely NO oversight of their pharmacy technicians, by their state board of pharmacy. This is an enormous public safety issue when you take into account the fact that pharmacy technicians, in all of our nation’s hospitals & medical facilities, are responsible for compounding VIRTUALLY ALL intravenous (IV) medications that go directly into patient’s circulatory systems!

You can learn more about the the Emily Jerry Foundation’s National Pharmacy Technician Initiative & Interactive Scorecard on the bottom of our homepage at emilyjerryfoundation.org.

The IV Automation Technology Coalition, that I have been a part of for the past 3 years, had yet another very productive trip to Washington D.C.! Yesterday, we met with the FDA, in Silver Springs, Maryland. Today, we spent the entire morning, meeting with legislators on Capitol Hill. Even though it was a great trip, and I’m very pleased to say that we accomplished a lot, I’m definitely looking forward to getting home…?

Heading to Washington D.C. for another round of meetings tomorrow afternoon with the FDA. For the past 3 years, I have had the great privilege of being a part of the IV Automation Technology Coalition, comprised of a diverse group of stakeholders (i.e. pharmacists, practitioners, innovators, patient safety advocates, etc.). We have all been on a journey together to improve patient and medication safety in the United States. We believe that technology has tremendous potential and will play a key role in stopping tragedies, like my daughter Emily’s, BEFORE they happen, and will ultimately save countless lives!!

My meeting at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County yesterday went extremely well! Unfortunately, due to weather, I didn’t get home until 3:00am this morning! Next week is another busy week. I’ll be heading to Washington D.C., for more meetings on Capitol Hill to discuss medication safety related legislation and preventable medical errors. In addition, while I’m there, I will also be attending and participating in IV automation coalition meetings with the FDA in Silver Springs, Maryland.

Hard to believe it has been exactly one year since I was able to spend a few days on a very enjoyable trip for the Emily Jerry Foundation to La Rochelle France ??! I had a chance to spend one full day with a new EJF medication safety technology partner, Eurekam. We had very productive meetings and presentations at their offices and then I had the great privilege of visiting the Hospital Center “Saint-Louis” De La Rochelle to see one of their very first clinical implementations of their Drugcam system for the sterile IV compounding of oncology preparations. Afterwards, we all shared an amazing dinner together. I must say, La Rochelle is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited in France!! I would absolutely love the opportunity to come back next time for an actual vacation here ?!

I have always been a big fan of TED talks, so when my friend Michael Kasey said he was organizing an independent TEDx talk in Chagrin Falls, about 6 months ago, and wanted to know if I would be interested in speaking about “the power of forgiveness,” of course I said yes!! So we spent the entire morning today, as well as, the first part of the afternoon, filming with a camera crew from NYC, at the Chagrin Valley Little Theater. Everything went really well. Hopefully, we will get everything back from editing in about a month, or so. All of the speakers were absolutely amazing and Michael did a great job producing and hosting his first TEDx event!!