CHAP Webinar Review: “Patient Safety is Everyone's Responsibility,” The Whole Care Team
On March 12, 2025, I attended CHAP’s webinar, Patient Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility: Comprehensive Medication Management in Hospice Care. While I’ve been familiar with CHAP for over a decade, I’ve only recently begun engaging more actively with their offerings. What I’ve discovered is an industry leader dedicated to quality improvement across long-term and community-based care. Unlike highly regulated sectors such as hospice and home health, home care operates in a patchwork of regulations. What sets CHAP apart is its commitment to best practices across the full care continuum, ensuring that even less-regulated service areas benefit from structured quality measures based on data-driven best practices.
This webinar focused on medication management in hospice care, yet its insights were applicable far beyond hospice. Initially, I expected a highly clinical discussion that might be out of my depth. However, I was immediately impressed by the accessibility of the panelists—Rebecca Christensen, Jennifer Kennedy, Lynn Klima, Armine Khudanyan, and facilitator Denise Stanford. Each expert was not only knowledgeable in medication management but also skilled in health literacy, making complex topics digestible for a wide-ranging audience, from clinicians to caregivers and even patients.
Key Takeaways from the Webinar
The Role of Quality and Regulations in Hospice Care
The initial assessment is a vital time to build trust with the patient. The importance of trust cannot be overstated - it is essential to quailty.
Nurses in home hospice settings do not have control over medication storage, administration, or decision-making—patients legally own their medications.
Medication collection, history, storage, and the home environment must be evaluated for safety and accessibility.
Patient-Centered Medication Management
Medication errors often stem from ineffective patient education. Having medication buy-in and making medication management understandable are critical to patient safety.
The way medications are prescribed versus how they are dispensed by pharmacies can lead to confusion at best and life-threatening events at worst (e.g., 1mg three times a day vs. 3mg once a day).
Shared decision-making ensures medications align with patient goals. Understanding what matters most to the patient helps clinicians tailor treatment plans accordingly.
Trust-building is essential, particularly when addressing patient resistance to medication adherence.
Optimizing Communication for Safer Medication Use
Patients and families need clear, consistent communication to improve adherence and safety.
Health literacy gaps pose significant barriers: 36% of patients are at risk of health literacy issues, and 60% of those struggling with adherence do not fully understand medication administration.
Using “living room language” (simple, non-medical terms) helps bridge literacy gaps, especially for patients with language barriers, lower education levels, or chronic conditions.
Enhancing Safety Through Systems and Culture
Medication errors should be treated as opportunities to improve systems rather than as punitive failures.
A culture of safety fosters open reporting, leading to fewer mistakes and enhanced patient outcomes.
Debriefing after errors and near misses provides valuable learning opportunities.
Care transitions between settings must be managed carefully to ensure consistent medication management.
Up-to-date patient binders and standardized communication tools enhance continuity of care.
Proactive Patient Safety Measures
Organizations should regularly audit their medication management processes to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
The Swiss Cheese Model illustrates that multiple layers of protection (policies, procedures, and training) reduce errors, but gaps must continuously be identified and closed.
Avoid complacency—errors thrive in stagnant systems.
Consider participation in Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) to benchmark performance, collaborate on best practices, and drive safety initiatives.
Final Thoughts
This webinar provided an exceptional overview of medication safety in hospice care while offering broader takeaways for improving patient safety across various care settings. The discussion reinforced the importance of structured communication, continuous training, and a patient-centered approach to medication management. The panelists were wonderful presenters making the subject interesting, engaging, and understandable. Several specific examples, use cases, and stories made the learning experience more enjoyable and memorable. CHAP continues to be an invaluable resource for quality assurance and patient safety, and I look forward to engaging in future discussions.
For more information about CHAP’s programs and initiatives, visit CHAP.
