Medication errors present a significant challenge in the world of pharmacy, with serious implications for patient safety. However, these issues are sometimes left unaddressed due to widespread myths and misunderstandings about error reporting. 

Understanding these myths can change how you perceive error reporting and its importance in patient care. Below, we break down six common misconceptions and reveal the facts behind them. 

Myth 1: Reporting a Medication Error Means Someone Will Be Punished 

Fact: The primary purpose of reporting medication errors is improving patient safety, not assigning blame. 

Reporting into Pharmapod enables pharmacy teams to focus on learning from mistakes to prevent future incidents. These systems are designed to foster growth and create better workflows within the pharmacy, ensuring that errors don’t happen again. 

Myth 2: Only Errors That Harm Patients Need to Be Reported 

Fact: Reporting near misses or “good catches” is just as critical as reporting errors that cause harm. 

Good Catches reveal vulnerabilities in the system, some that the pharmacies can address and some that they cannot, but adding the information into the system enables system-level change. By understanding trends and frequent duplications of good catch events, pharmacies can address and prevent similar errors before they impact patients. 

Myth 3: Reporting an Error Will Damage My Professional Reputation 

Fact: Transparency in error reporting highlights a commitment to patient safety and ongoing improvement. 

Most organizations value employees who actively prioritize safety and take the initiative to improve processes. Humans make mistakes, and what you do with the mistake that matters more than the mistake itself. Regular reporting will strengthen processes and help everyone work more safely.  

Myth 4: Reporting Is Too Time-Consuming 

Fact: Pharmapod is designed for quick and easy standardized event submissions and the insights pro data is available in real time. Like anything, the more you use it the faster you are.

Pharmacists can often complete a report in just a few minutes, and the long-term benefits of avoiding repeated errors far outweigh this small investment of time. 

Myth 5: Someone Else Will Report the Error 

Fact: Every pharmacy team member shares an equal responsibility to report incidents. 

Assuming someone else will report errors or good catches puts critical insights at risk of being overlooked. Effective systems rely on collective accountability from every member of the team. 

Myth 6: Reporting Won’t Make a Difference 

Fact: Every report provides valuable data for bettering systems and enhancing safety. A great is how drug shortages, which are beyond individual pharmacy control, can be addressed as a systemic issue when pharmacies collectively report events. This pooled data builds a strong case for driving meaningful system-wide change.

Over time, consistent reporting helps identify trends, adjust workflows, and improve patient outcomes. This not only strengthens pharmacy operations but demonstrates a clear focus on patient welfare. 

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By actively reporting errors and near misses, pharmacy professionals build a culture of trust, transparency, and continuous learning. These efforts result in safer systems and better patient care, ultimately transforming the standard of practice across the industry. 

Let’s improve patient safety together. Contact us today to get started with Pharmapod. 

The Alberta College of Pharmacy has announced the plan to implement CQI+, an initiative to empower the safety culture in Alberta community pharmacies through continuous quality improvement processes and the sharing of information about practice incidents. CQI+ is represented in Domain 6 of the new Standards. The deadline for compliance with CQI+ is February 1, 2026. 

It’s essential for pharmacies to align their practices with these new standards sooner rather than later. This is more than a deadline—it’s an opportunity to elevate pharmacy operations to exceptional levels of safety and efficiency. Pharmapod can help – we are the leading global cloud-based software system for incident management and quality improvement work.

What You Need to Do

Domain 6 of the Standards for the Operations of Licensed Pharmacies (SOLP) is effective as of February 1st, 2025, and it requires pharmacies to foster a culture where all team members are dedicated to continuous quality improvement by supporting the following six standards:

1. Safety culture and just culture
2. Prevention of practice incidents 
3. Managing practice incidents 
4. Analysis of practice incidents and close calls
5. Follow-up process
6. Collecting patient feedback and managing patient concerns

The standards emphasize continuous learning and improvement over a punitive approach. Instead of attributing blame, pharmacies are encouraged to examine systemic factors that might contribute to practice incidents. 

If you’re concerned about complying with CQI+, Pharmapod can help you manage your practice incidents. Our cloud-based platform offers the tools you need to comply with CQI+, including:

• Mandatory and optional data fields
• Privacy and Security: SOC2 accredited, all data is stored in Canada
• Training and Support: live and online 
• Anonymous data integration with the National Incident Data Repository (NIDR)
• Patient-centred forms for both incident and close-call reports. 
• Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) tools, built-in root cause analysis, learning points, action plans, follow-ups, notifications 
• Safety Reports: consolidated data into one report for staff meetings
• Analytics: built-in dashboards and charts

READY TO GET STARTED? Email carla.beaton@thinkresearch.com or chris.crocco@thinkresearch.com.

How Pharmapod Can Help Ensure CQI+ Compliance

Pharmapod is a comprehensive digital pharmacy platform designed to:

• streamline medication safety processes
• facilitate compliance with regulatory requirements
• enhance patient care outcomes

As the CQI tool of choice in over 70% of pharmacies across Canada, we understand the complexities of complying with various pharmacy regulatory requirements and have tailored our solution to ensure all needs are met. Our platform helps you establish a structured continuous quality improvement (CQI) program to identify and address risks by reporting incidents and close calls, analyzing root causes, and implementing action plans to prevent future incidents. 

1. Safety and Just Culture

The new standards provide a roadmap for implementing effective change through what is known as a “just culture.” This framework promotes accountability and is built on the belief that all incidents and close calls offer valuable learning opportunities.

Implementing a safety culture is reliant on regular reporting of errors and good catches/close calls – these provide opportunities to learn and improve processes. However, fostering this type of workplace culture requires tools that make reporting and communication seamless—and that’s where Pharmapod excels.  

Anonymous Reporting: Pharmapod’s user-friendly platform enables pharmacists and staff to quickly and easily report incidents or risks. Only data fields from the ISMP data sharing agreement (flagged in the reports) are automatically shared anonymously with the NIDR, ensuring transparency and compliance. 

Clear Procedures: The system provides step-by-step guidance for reporting incidents, ensuring that no detail is overlooked and everyone on your team feels empowered to contribute.  

Built-In Training: Pharmapod also offers training tools that reinforce the principles of a safety culture and a just culture, ensuring staff are consistently aligned with safety expectations.  

By embedding safety and just culture practices in its platform, Pharmapod enables you to establish a foundation of trust and accountability within your pharmacy teams. This open and honest environment fosters teamwork and collective responsibility for patient safety, and, over time, makes it more difficult for pharmacy staff to commit avoidable errors and supports a more reliable and efficient pharmacy operation. 

LEARN MORE about establishing a Just and Safety Culture in our on-demand webinar. WATCH NOW

2. Prevention of Practice Incidents

Preventing practice incidents starts with identifying risks before they escalate. The ACP underscores the need for CQI systems, procedures, and strategies designed to anticipate potential issues. By tailoring CQI plans to your pharmacy’s unique needs, you can effectively mitigate risks and improve patient outcomes.

Pharmapod’s powerful CQI tools ensure all relevant information is captured, stored, and easily accessible in one location. All recorded medication incident data is automatically populated into the platform’s CQI tools, preventing duplication of work while providing actionable insights to optimize patient care. 

In just a few clicks, pharmacies can identify systemic issues and implement targeted corrective actions to prevent the recurrence of errors. CQI reports for staff meetings can also be generated instantly within the platform. 

The result? Pharmacies that leverage Pharmapod see fewer incidents because they can act preventively—not reactively.

3. Managing Practice Incidents Effectively

When incidents do occur, an organized response is crucial. The ACP standards require the patient to be promptly informed and provided with the appropriate care. Pharmacies are also required to discuss details of the incident with applicable team members and take action to prevent a possible recurrence. 

The first step in incident management is precise documentation, which is easily done in Pharmapod. Once the documentation is in place, pharmacy teams should adopt a collaborative approach to identify solutions. By involving all relevant team members in the problem-solving process, pharmacies can develop more effective action plans, helping prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Pharmapod provides an instant report summary and can generate a range of comprehensive reports, including event trend analysis and contributing factors. 

4. Analyzing Trends in Incidents and Close Calls  

CQI+ isn’t just about fixing problems—it’s about leveraging data to make smarter decisions. Pharmapod’s advanced analytics tools allow you to extract valuable insights from practice incidents and close-call events, helping refine your processes over time.  

Detailed Metrics and Reports: Pharmapod breaks down incidents by type, root cause, frequency, and more—saving you time and giving you the full picture of what’s occurring within your operations.  Data is automatically populated into charts and graphs with customizable filters to enable comparisons by region/facility/timeframe, so you can monitor trends and measure and track key performance indicators.

Trend Analysis: Use Pharmapod’s visual dashboards to uncover patterns that can inform better prevention strategies. Reporting all close calls quickly provides the data required to see the trends in your organization.

Data Sharing Across Teams: Share insights with your team using Pharmapod’s collaborative tools, ensuring all stakeholders stay informed about the latest trends and action points.

With Pharmapod providing meaningful insights at your fingertips, analyzing incidents turns from a chore into a strategic advantage.

5. Follow-Up Process

What you do with an error or good catch matters more than the mistake itself. Pharmapod helps pharmacies track and manage corrective and/ or preventative actions with Action Plan templates and reminders. Proactive Self Assessments and Quality Improvement Plans can be completed directly within the platform. Everything you need is conveniently in one place. Pharmapod streamlines communication between pharmacy staff, facilitates task assignments, and monitors progress towards resolution, ensuring timely implementation of improvement measures. 

An integrated resources library, in addition to monthly training sessions, ensure pharmacy staff understand and are able to utilize the platform effectively. From onboarding sessions to ongoing support, we work with you to ensure your pharmacy achieves and maintains CQI+ compliance. 

6. Collecting Patient Feedback and Managing Patient Concerns

Patients are an invaluable source of information when it comes to continuous quality improvement. By actively seeking feedback and managing patient concerns, pharmacies can enhance their service delivery and ensure that their practices align with patient expectations.

Feedback can be added to the incident details within the platform for review and analysis to identify areas for improvement in care delivery. This functionality ensures that feedback doesn’t go unaddressed and that it contributes to continuous improvement in care quality.

Simplify CQI+ Compliance Today 

Pharmapod is purpose-built to support pharmacies in Alberta as they adapt to the CQI+ mandate. By standardizing incident reporting, enabling root cause analysis, and fostering a culture of meaningful quality improvement, Pharmapod empowers pharmacy teams to meet regulatory requirements and elevate patient safety. Choose Pharmapod as the online practice incident management platform to meet CQI+ requirements.

Get started with CQI+ compliance today and be ready for the February 1st, 2026 deadline—contact carla.beaton@thinkresearch.com or chris.crocco@thinkresearch.com.

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Pharmapod software meets all the reporting platform requirements for mandatory CQI programs in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan (COMPASS), New Brunswick, Manitoba (Safety IQ), Alberta (CQI+), Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador (MedSTEP NL).
Pharmapod contributes anonymous data to the National Incident Data Repository for Community Pharmacies (NIDR) of the Canadian Medication Incident Reporting and Prevention System (CMIRPS). Incident data from NIDR is used by ISMP Canada strictly for the purposes of analysis, shared learning, and incident prevention strategy formulation. 

Being on the front lines of healthcare, pharmacists, regulated technicians and pharmacy workers play a critical role in ensuring patient safety. One of the key practices that can significantly enhance safety is the regular reporting of both medication incidents and good catches. This practice helps you gather the data needed to understand what’s contributing to errors so you can implement changes and prevent the issue from recurring. 

But the impact of regular reporting goes well beyond your pharmacy walls. When we all make regular reports, it allows us to gather the insight needed to identify how trends and systemic challenges are impacting patient safety on a broader scale. This helps support system changes that will improve patient safety everywhere. 

Here are four powerful insights gained from regular incident reporting.

1. Linking Errors to Workforce Challenges

A well-documented incident reporting system can highlight the link between medication errors and workforce issues, such as insufficient qualified staffing or insufficient training. By identifying these connections with data, pharmacies can advocate for better-qualified resources, training programs, and staffing levels to ensure that their team is well-equipped to handle the demands of patient care.

2. Monitoring Adverse Reactions with New Treatments

In the rapidly evolving world of pharmaceuticals, new treatments are introduced frequently. Regular incident reporting allows pharmacies to monitor any adverse reactions or unexpected outcomes associated with these new medications. This data is invaluable for adjusting protocols, informing healthcare providers, and ultimately safeguarding patients.

3. Addressing Supply Chain Shortages

Pharmacies are often at the mercy of supply chain fluctuations, which can lead to medication shortages. Regular reporting of pharmacy good catch events can highlight patterns where shortages are contributing to harm or potential harm, providing the necessary data to drive system change at government or system levels. 

4. Understanding the Impact of Regulation Changes

The healthcare industry is subject to frequent regulatory updates. This was evident during the constant messaging during the pandemic.  By consistently reporting incidents, pharmacies can assess how regulation changes impact their operations and patient outcomes. This awareness supports compliance efforts and ensures that pharmacies can adapt quickly to new guidelines without compromising safety.

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The practice of regular good catch and medication incident reporting is a powerful tool for pharmacies. Not only does it help in identifying the root causes of errors to improve safety in the pharmacy, it also supports a proactive approach to patient safety and quality care. By committing to a culture of transparency and continuous improvement, pharmacists and their teams can significantly enhance their role as vital members of the healthcare industry.

Learn more about how you can foster an environment where staff feel safe reporting all medication errors and good catches.  Catch up on episode 3 of our Safety Series webinars today! 

Pharmacies, like all healthcare settings, have a responsibility to ensure patient safety. However, achieving a culture where safety is embedded in every action and decision requires more than just policy changes—it requires a fundamental shift in the organizational mindset towards what is known as a “Just Culture.” 

In a pharmacy, a just culture is an approach that promotes accountability, learning, and safety by balancing a no-blame philosophy with responsibility for actions. It recognizes that errors can and do happen, and fosters an environment where pharmacy staff feel comfortable reporting mistakes or near misses without fear of punishment for unintentional errors.

In a just culture, there is a focus on understanding the causes of errors—whether they stem from human error, system design, or a combination of factors. This allows pharmacies to make meaningful improvements, enhancing safety and reducing the likelihood of future mistakes. However, it also distinguishes between honest mistakes and reckless behaviour. While unintentional errors are addressed through support and training, any willful disregard for patient safety or negligent behaviour is still held accountable.

By implementing a just culture, pharmacies can improve communication, encourage transparency, and build a stronger culture of safety, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and a more supportive work environment.

If you’re ready to build a just culture in your pharmacy or healthcare setting, here are seven guiding principles to shape the foundation and guide you on your journey:

1. Engage Patients and Families as Partners in Safe Care

The first step in establishing a just culture is to involve patients and their families in the safety process. By explaining the steps taken to ensure that prescriptions are appropriate and safe, you create a partnership built on trust. Always inquire about any new drug allergies or health changes your patients might have experienced. This proactive communication not only enhances safety but also empowers patients to be active participants in their healthcare.

2. Achieve Results Through Collaborative Working

Your pharmacy staff is your greatest asset in fostering a just culture. Encourage open dialogue and invite their input on processes, staffing, and workflow. A collaborative environment is one where staff feel valued and responsible for the safety and efficiency of operations. Regular team huddles can be an effective way to gather insights and foster a sense of collective ownership over patient safety.

Related: Download our template for a 10-minute safety huddle for topics to cover in your team huddles. 

3. Analyze and Share Data to Generate Learning

Transparency is key in a just culture. Use data from error reports to educate and inform your team. By sharing this information, you encourage a collective brainstorming process to identify solutions that will help prevent future harm. This shared learning experience helps build an environment where staff members are not afraid to report errors, knowing their input will lead to positive changes.

4. Translate Evidence into Actionable and Measurable Improvement

In a just culture, small changes can lead to big improvements. Show your team that reports and suggestions lead to action, no matter how minor they may seem. Implementing small, measurable changes demonstrates that all feedback is valued and contributes to a safer environment, preventing reports from disappearing into a “black hole.”

5. Base Policies and Action on the Nature of the Care Setting

Every healthcare setting is unique. What works in one pharmacy might not be feasible in another. Tailor your policies and actions to fit the specific needs and realities of your environment. This adaptability helps ensure that the changes you implement are not only practical but also effective in enhancing safety.

For example, let’s consider two different pharmacy settings: a community pharmacy focused mainly on dispensing, and a pharmacy that combines immunizations, common ailment assessments, and point-of-care testing.  

In a dispensing community pharmacy, a just culture policy could focus on error reporting and rapid response to the high volume of patient interactions and fast-paced dispensing environment.

For instance, policies might emphasize addressing issues like distractions,  look-alike/sound-alike medications and creating checklists or double-check processes for high-risk drugs. Training could be delivered in short, easily digestible sessions that fit into busy workdays, focusing on recognizing and reducing risks in a fast-paced environment.

Example Policy Adaptation: To minimize interruptions, staff may establish dedicated time blocks when the dispensing area is “distraction-free,” allowing pharmacy staff to focus solely on verification without interruption.  

In a pharmacy offering both clinical services and dispensing, a just culture policy could focus on communication techniques, feasible scheduling of appointments and safe injection procedures that are separated from the dispensing area.

For instance, policies might emphasize efficient workflows, proper privacy and follow-up procedures when required. 

Example Policy Adaptation: To minimize distracting interruptions, staff may establish how appointments are best scheduled and set expectations for patients, along with collecting required information, like the number and type of vaccines prior to the appointment, allowing the pharmacy team members to focus solely on the clinical service.  

6. Use Both Scientific Expertise and Patient Experience to Improve Safety

To make impactful changes, leverage insights from both scientific data and patient experiences. Combine the technical knowledge of your staff with the firsthand experiences of your patients to develop a comprehensive approach to safety improvements. This dual perspective enriches your understanding of safety challenges and enhances the effectiveness of your interventions.

7. Instill a Safety Culture in the Design and Delivery of Healthcare

Ultimately, the goal is to embed a culture of safety in every facet of your pharmacy’s operations. Leadership should visibly prioritize patient safety by setting clear expectations and modelling safe practices. Encourage open communication among team members to discuss safety concerns and improvements, fostering an environment where everyone feels responsible for maintaining high safety standards.

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Establishing a just culture takes time, dedication, and continuous learning. By following these seven guiding principles, you can create a culture where patient safety is at the forefront of every decision and action. Learn more about the importance of fostering a just culture and the positive impact it can have on patient safety. Catch up on episode 3 of our Safety Series webinars today!