Medication Safety Glossary
AIMS (Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety Program)
A quality assurance initiative introduced by the Ontario College of Pharmacists to reduce patient harm associated with medication events through reporting, analysis, and continuous learning.听
Community Pharmacy (CPh)
A pharmacy practice setting that provides medication dispensing, counselling, and related healthcare services directly to the public.
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
An ongoing, systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, and improving pharmacy practices, workflows, and patient safety outcomes through learning from medication incidents and near misses. CQI is a core component of the AIMS Program.听
Medication Event (ME)
A broad term that includes both medication incidents and near misses occurring during the medication-use process.
Medication Incident
A preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while a medication is under the control of a healthcare professional, patient, or consumer.
MERS (Medication Event Reporting Systems)
Digital platforms used to report, document, analyze, and learn from medication incidents and near misses.
Near Miss (Good Catch)
An event that could have resulted in inappropriate medication use or patient harm but was identified and intercepted before reaching the patient.
National Incident Data Repository for Community Pharmacies (NIDR)
A Canadian repository that collects de-identified medication incident and near miss data from community pharmacies to support medication safety surveillance, research, and quality improvement initiatives.听
OCP (Ontario College of Pharmacists)
The regulatory body responsible for pharmacy practice and pharmacy professional registration in Ontario.
Patient Safety Culture
The shared values, attitudes, and behaviors within a pharmacy that support open reporting, learning from errors, and continuous improvement in medication safety.
Pharmapod
A cloud-based medication event reporting and continuous quality improvement platform used by pharmacies and other healthcare organizations to document, analyze, and learn from medication incidents and near misses. Pharmapod supports incident reporting, analysis, organizational learning, and quality improvement activities.
Quality Improvement Action Plan (QIAP)
A documented plan developed following incident analysis that outlines specific actions to address identified risks, implement improvements, and monitor outcomes.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
A structured process used to identify the underlying system, process, and human factors that contribute to a medication incident or near miss, with the goal of preventing recurrence.
Social Pressure (SP)
The perceived influence of colleagues, managers, or professional peers on an individual's decision to use a system.
Techno-Overload (TO)
A dimension of technostress that occurs when technology increases workload demands or requires individuals to work faster and process more information.
Technostress
Stress experienced as a result of using information technologies.
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