ISMP Canada

10/21/2026

📢 BULLETIN: Advancing Appropriate Use of Antipsychotic Medications in Long-Term Care: Collaborative Action Needed across the Health Care System

Appropriate use of antipsychotic medications requires cross-sectoral efforts. This bulletin profiles a long-term care initiative designed to advance appropriate use of antipsychotic medications. This initiative supports an established national target and informs safe practices across the health care system, including acute, community, and long-term care settings.

💡 Learn more: https://ismpcanada.ca/bulletin/antipsychotic-medications-ltc/

10/20/2026

🎉Happy National Pharmacy Technician Day!

We want to recognize the dedication of all our pharmacy technicians who are an indispensable part of our healthcare team. Thank you for your commitment to medication safety and for supporting patients.

10/19/2026

📢 Attention aux professionnels de la santé!

Participez à notre atelier sur l'analyse des incidents et l'évaluation proactive des risques, en !

✅Inscrivez-vous pour acquérir des connaissances sur la manière d'améliorer la sécurité des patients ➡️ismpcanada.ca/fr/education
🗓️4 et 5 décembre 2025

10/15/2026

📢 Are you administering vaccines this season?

ISMP Canada continues to receive reports about 💉 vaccine errors and provides some safety recommendations.

💡 Provide host facilities with a preclinic checklist to identify needs related to setup and layout, technology, patient flow, and documentation.

💡Optimize the design of forms for documentation, including patient consent and vaccine administration records.

💡For clinics administering more than 1 type of vaccine, standardize the approach to patient flow using 1 of the models described.

🔖 Read on for additional tips for safe administration of vaccines in the following related bulletins:

📕 https://ismpcanada.ca/bulletin/updated-analysis-and-shared-learning-from-covid-19-vaccine-errors/
📗 https://ismpcanada.ca/bulletin/preventing-errors-with-covid-19-vaccines-learning-from-vaccine-incidents/
📘 https://ismpcanada.ca/bulletin/rsv-immunization/
📙 https://ismpcanada.ca/bulletin/standardization-vaccine-clinics/

10/15/2026

🚨 Attention Community Pharmacy Teams!

Not all potassium formulations treat the same indications.

💊 ISMP Canada recently received reports from both pharmacies and patients where the incorrect potassium formulation was dispensed to patients. In some cases, these substitutions led to patient harm.

🔎 Clinical Breakdown 🔎

There are many commercially available potassium salts, but not all potassium salts treat the same indications.

Example: Potassium citrate
Key indication: Treatment and prevention of kidney stones by raising urine pH

Risk of harm: If a patient with recurrent kidney stones is dispensed potassium chloride instead of potassium citrate, their urine pH will remain acidic and kidney stones may continue to crystallize.

🛡️ Error Prevention 🛡️

✅ Verify the indication for all potassium prescriptions, ideally during prescription drop-off.
✅ Clarify the specific potassium salt with the prescriber if not clearly specified on the prescription.



👉 For more information on how to prevent errors with high-alert medications, review ISMP Canada’s High-Alert Medications List: https://ismpcanada.ca/resource/highalertlist/

10/13/2026

📢 *2026 UPDATE* Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Hospital

The Medication Safety Self-Assessment® for Hospital (MSSA-Hospital) has been updated to include:

· Learning from medication incidents reported to the
Canadian Incident Reporting and Prevention System (CMIRPS)
· New and emerging safety trends (particularly the
importance of supporting technology)
· Streamlined content for more efficient assessment
· Alignment with the CAN/HSO 3001:2026 Medication Management.

Help optimize patient and medication safety – contact us at [email protected] for more information!

Learn more: https://ismpcanada.ca/news/2026-update-medication-safety-self-assessment-for-hospital/

10/12/2026

💊 Don’t miss our upcoming & Workshop on November 20!

Learn how to gather the most accurate medication list using our BPMH Guide, and put your learning into practice through interactive group activities.

✅ Ideal for , , , and !

🎉 Group discount: Register 5+ participants and receive 10% off
🎓 Student discount: 50% off

🔔 Register today! ➡️ ismpcanada.ca/education

10/09/2026

Congratulations to our CEO, Natalie Borden, on receiving this prestigious award! Your dedication to elevating the pharmacy profession from students to national safety improvements will make a difference for many people in Nova Scotia and across Canada. 🇨🇦

Watch the video to see the impact she has made:

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

10/06/2026

📣 New NIDR SMART Medication Safety Agenda released! 📋

The latest edition of the NIDR SMART Safety Agenda focuses on errors associated with pediatric antibiotic suspensions, highlighting the risks with dosing calculations and reconstitution.

Has your pharmacy team experienced errors related to pediatric antibiotic suspensions? Check out the incidents, contributing factors, and recommendations featured in this agenda. Then, discuss as a team within your pharmacy, and document an action plan to prevent these types of errors (using the PDF-fillable template)!

The NIDR SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based) Medication Safety Agenda is developed from incident reports submitted by community pharmacy teams across Canada. This new resource turns shared learning into practical actions to improve medication safety.

👉 Check out the latest NIDR SMART Medication Safety Agenda here:https://ismpcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/NIDR-MedSafetyAgenda-PediatricAntibioticSuspension-SEP2026.pdf

10/05/2026

📢 Free Trial for Ontario Pharmacies! 📢

Looking for an online medication safety and incident management platform that supports your AIMS reporting requirements?
ISMP Canada presents the enhanced Community Pharmacy Incident Reporting (CPhIR) platform!

Easily support your AIMS activities:
✍️ Report incidents and near misses efficiently
✅ Seamless submission to the NIDR
💡 Track and analyze trends
📋 Document CQI meetings and action plans
🛡️ Complimentary access to the Medication Safety Self-Assessment (MSSA)

Discover how CPhIR can help strengthen your pharmacy’s safety culture and compliance with AIMS.

👉 Visit https://w20.cphir.ca/Reporting/freetrial.php today to learn more and take advantage of your free trial!