Barely a year after it launched, Kaiser Permanente’s new inpatient medication administration program has already made significant strides. The medication protocol, dubbed MedRite, not only has gained eager adoption within KP’s walls, but hospitals outside the KP system have been embracing it as a winning answer to the hot-button patient-safety issue.

MedRite addresses the leading causes of medication errors to patients: Interruptions to nurses and the lack of a standardized process. From clearly outlined procedures to “non-interruption” sashes signaling that nurses are not be disturbed during medication rounds, MedRite standardizes inpatient medication administration—making it safer, quicker, and more reliable.

“We’re not pushing it at all,” KP’s national patient safety leader Sue Barnes said. “It’s completely being pulled.” 

Requests from outside organizations

In a high compliment to the KP work, hospital systems outside of KP as well as professional nursing associations have taken notice. Kaiser Permanente has received a steady stream of training requests for adopting MedRite at their own sites.

“I’ve been very impressed by how enthusiastically both internal and external audiences have embraced it,” Barnes said.

And partnership, frontline workers and leaders say, continues to be the key in its success.

Best practice spreads

The program was born at the Sidney Garfield Innovation Center, developed in collaboration with frontline workers at three facilities—West Los Angeles, Hayward and South San Francisco. After trials at those facilities showed significant reductions in nurse interruptions, and at certain locations, drops in medication errors, MedRite was launched in inpatient departments throughout Northern California, the Northwest and Hawaii regions.

“I think it’s been critical, absolutely critical,” Barnes said. “It’s the nurse communication that is really compelling and convincing. But the success has been and continues to be in large part dependent on how engaged and supportive the ancillary departments and physicians’ groups have been.”