PHR 3523 - A Psychological Approach to Medication Safety in Pharmacy

3 Credit Hours

Grounded in psychological theory, this course reviews the factors that can contribute to errors in pharmacy practice, the relationships between these factors and the behaviors of pharmacists, other health care professionals, patients, and health care organizations, and the benefit of defining the problem from multiple perspectives. No prior knowledge of psychological principles is required. The first part of the course will inform the student about human error and why we should not expect that it can be eliminated. The second part of the course will educate the student on recommended mindsets and behaviors to handle errors when they arise. The course will be successful if the student is able to perceive the pharmacy work environment as well as the tasks involved in pharmacy practice more from a human/organic/patient-centered viewpoint, rather than exclusively from a task/mechanistic/product-centered viewpoint, and if the student feels more confident that medication errors (and reactions to them) can be managed and regulated.

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