Giant Eagle Pharmacy receives award for operational excellence

PITTSBURGH Supermarket retailer Giant Eagle received an award from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Wednesday at the 12th Annual Cheers Awards reception held in Las Vegas. The Cheers Awards honor individuals, organizations and companies that have set a superlative standard of excellence for others to follow in the prevention of medication errors and adverse drug events.

Giant Eagle Pharmacy is being recognized for its efforts in ensuring high quality customer service and accuracy with its two quality initiatives, the supermarket chain said. The first, No Defects Passed Forward, encourages staff to identify errors before they reach the pharmacist for final verification. The second program prevents point-of-sale errors by linking the pharmacy dispensing system to the registers. A barcode with patient date-of-birth was added to prescription receipts -- when scanned, a blind prompt is created for the team member to enter that date. If it does not match or is not entered, the sale cannot be completed. The only way the date can be obtained is by asking the person picking up the prescription. Both of these programs help ensure that the right drug gets to the correct patient.

"Medication accuracy is paramount at Giant Eagle," said Randy Heiser, VP Giant Eagle Pharmacy. "We're honored to be recognized by the ISMP for our dedication to the health and well being of our customers."

The Cheers Awards are hosted by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit organization that works closely with healthcare practitioners and institutions, regulatory agencies, consumers, and professional organizations to provide education about medication errors and their prevention. ISMP represents more than 30 years of experience in helping healthcare practitioners keep patients safe, and continues to lead efforts to improve the medication use process.