“Emily Jerry was nearly ready to go home from a Cleveland hospital. The grapefruit-size tumor in her abdomen seemed gone, and the 2-year-old with blond ringlets and blue eyes was getting one last round of chemotherapy just to make sure,” USA Today writes. Emily died during that last round of chemotherapy, owing to a pharmacy error. What went so horribly wrong?
A Series of Pharmacy Errors Kills Emily Jerry, Age 2
A pharmacy technician prepared a custom bag for Emily’s last round of chemotherapy. The bag contained 23.4% sodium chloride solution; a standard bag contains less than 1%! “The pharmacist on duty didn’t catch the error. Soon after getting the drug, Emily was on life support. She died three days later, on March 1, 2006,” USA Today continues. The pharmacy technician’s ill-advised actions — coupled with inaccuracies in an electronic hospital system — killed Emily. (The system failure may have resulted in inventory shortages. The technician likely prepared a bag by hand to make up for it.) The technician in question, Eric Cropp, was sentenced to six months in jail — and an additional three years of probation.
Young Girl’s Father Campaigns For Improved Pharmacy Point of Sale Systems
Years after the fact, Chris Jerry continues traveling the U.S., asking pharmacies to carefully reconsider their systems and policies — and ultimately save thousands of patients. At the time of Emily’s death, Ohio did not require any registration for pharmacy technicians. Several other states also lack specific licensing and training regulations for pharmacy techs. Jerry asks pharmacies to carefully train all staff members distributing medication, prescriptions, and drugs. Similarly, Jerry also impresses the need for up-to-date pharmacy point of sale software — or pharmacy POS software. The software helps monitor inventory and confirm hand counts, preventing overdoses and other dangerous inaccuracies.
Pharmacy software and staff members’ qualifications and levels of expertise matter. Save lives by investing in quality pharmacy POS software and implementing thorough pharmacy training programs — for all employees. To learn more, read this. To learn more, read this: Pharmacy pos software
