Preventing medication safety events requires interventions that are robust, systemic, and difficult to bypass, particularly for critical safety checks.
Option A (Adding colored warning labels to high-risk medications): Labels are helpful but rely on human vigilance, which can fail, making them less strong.
Option B (Educating providers on accurate medication reconciliation): Education is important but less effective than system-based interventions, as it depends on compliance.
Option C (Limiting the number of medication warnings triggered in the electronic health record): Reducing warnings may decrease alert fatigue but risks missing critical alerts, weakening safety.
Option D (Creating a hard stop for allergy documentation prior to ordering medications): This is the correct answer. The NAHQ CPHQ study guide states, “Hard stops in electronic health records, such as requiring allergy documentation before medication orders, are the strongest interventions for preventing errors by enforcing compliance” (Domain 1). Hard stops prevent progression without action, ensuring safety.
CPHQ Objective Reference: Domain 1: Patient Safety, Objective 1.4, “Implement system-based safety interventions,” emphasizes hard stops for critical processes. The NAHQ study guide notes, “Hard stops are highly effective for enforcing safety protocols like allergy checks” (Domain 1).
Rationale: Hard stops create an unavoidable barrier to errors, making them the strongest intervention, as per CPHQ’s patient safety principles.
[Reference: NAHQ CPHQ Study Guide, Domain 1: Patient Safety, Objective 1.4., , , , , ]
