Family HealthCare Pharmacy, NDSU and Family HealthCare Center have received four Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative awards including the Clinical Pharmacy Services Improvement Award, the Health Outcome Management Award, the Life Saving Patient Safety Award and the Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative Performance Award for overall excellence.

The Health Resources and Services Administration presented the awards in recognition of improvements in the integration of clinical pharmacy services; successfully sharing results in health outcomes and using data to improve patient care; improvements in patient safety related to adverse drug events; and improvements in health outcomes, patient safety and the integration of clinical pharmacy services.

The staff of Family HealthCare Pharmacy, NDSU works closely with the staff and medical providers of the Family HealthCare Center, a federal community health center located in downtown Fargo, which is a primary care facility, open to all patients. The pharmacy and clinic provide additional services to assist uninsured and underinsured patients and provide healthcare to persons who are homeless.

The Health Resources and Services Administration Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative is a national effort to improve the quality of care delivered in the United States through the integration of health care providers and increased provision of clinical pharmacy services. This breakthrough effort targets improvement in health and safety for the highest risk, highest cost and most complex patients.

Teams were honored at a national meeting of the Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative in Dallas on Sept. 17.

Members of the award-winning collaborative team include Susan Wolf Nelson, pharmacy director; Anne Ottney, clinical pharmacist; and staff pharmacists Betty Lee, Jennifer Iverson, Miguel Buisan-Catevilla and Nicole Wald. Clinic team members include Maxine Henderson, clinical director, and Dr. Fawzia Shuja.

The teams recognized for their outstanding work during the collaborative were part of the first year of this effort. The Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative is now in its second year and the primary goal of the second phase of this effort is to continue the rapid spread of the leading practices found to most effectively improve patient safety and health outcomes.