Nurses can make a significant mark on improving patient safety by placing particular emphasis on safe medication administration. Listen to an expert panel discuss the highlights of the March 2005 report, “State of the Science on Safe Medication Administration” that was the outgrowth of an invitational symposium held on this topic in Philadelphia on July 16 and 17, 2004. This 57-minute teleconference was recorded on March 24, 2005. It was organized by the American Journal of Nursing, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and the Infusion Nurses Society as part of a patient safety and error prevention campaign. The campaign aims to identify policy and procedural changes, and implement best practices in medication administration so the professional community can begin to reduce the alarming rate of errors. The teleconference was moderated by AJN Editor-in-Chief, Diana J. Mason, RN, PhD, FAAN; the panel consisted of:

• Ronda Hughes, RN, PhD, Senior Health Scientist for the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.
• Ann Freeman Cook, PhD, Director of the National Rural Bioethics Project at the University of Montana.
• Mary Alexander, RN, BS, CRNI, Chief Executive Officer of the Infusion Nurses Society.
• Jane Barnsteiner, RN, PhD, FAAN, Professor at the University of Penn School of Nursing, and Director of Nursing for Translational Research at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Amber Hogan, Manager for Public Policy and Safety Advocacy for Becton, Dickinson & Co.
• Rachel Vitoux, RN, MSN, Manager of Clinical and Technical Support for B. Braun Medical, Inc.

Click on "View or Download File" to listen to the teleconference. PLEASE NOTE: The target audio file is in MP3 format and is 9.59MB. To listen to the file, you will need to have an MP3 player installed on your PC, such as Windows Media Player® or RealPlayer®.