Medication pass observation, a new survey technique

The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administration now requires that surveyors of pharmaceutical services in hospitals include a medication pass observation in the survey process. This observation affords the surveyor the opportunity to follow medications through the complete system, that is, from the time that the medication is prescribed by the physician to the time that it is administered to the patient. This enables the surveyor to determine if the quality of care provided to the patient meets the intent of the federal and state regulations. The article describes the surveyor's technique for performing the medication pass observation which has become an integral part of the survey process.