ANTHC Pharmacy earns National Director’s award from the Indian Health Service
August 11, 2017
On July 28, ANTHC Pharmacy staff was recognized for its commitment to patient safety with a National Director’s award from the Indian Health Service (IHS).
The National Director’s award of the IHS recognizes individuals or groups of employees whose special efforts and contributions, beyond regular duty requirements, have resulted in significant benefits to IHS programs, priorities, or customers and fulfillment of the IHS mission.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the pharmacy staff at ANTHC and the wide array of services we provide our patients,” said Kara King, ANTHC Director of Pharmacy. “The team has worked hard over the past several years to ensure we provide top-notch pharmaceutical services and that is evident in our accomplishments.”
In the past year, the pharmacy department has supported multiple projects to improve medication safety, including the organization’s upgrade to automated dispensing cabinets, which help clinicians safely and efficiently dispense medications. ANTHC successfully implemented the project in only three months, resulting the update of 80 machines. Pharmacy worked with several departments to ensure that more than 900 users were trained on the new system.
Pharmacy also organized the implementation of pediatric syringe pumps in the pediatric and pediatric intensive care areas. These “smart” pumps notify nurses when an infusion is outside of the normal rates and dosage ranges.
Pharmacy department staff also collaborated with ANTHC’s Strategic Access department to support campus expansion from a pharmacy perspective. In May 2016, Internal Medicine Outpatient Pharmacy began assisting patients at the newly relocated Internal Medicine and specialty clinics in the Healthy Communities Building on the Alaska Native Health Campus.