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Home Care Organizations Medication Safety Self-Assessment Instructions

It is suggested that the Home Care Organizations Medication Safety Self-Assessment® be completed every 1 - 2 years. Accreditation Canada recommends audits of MEDICATION MANAGEMENT systems within organizations. They suggest ISMP Canada’s MSSAs as a tool.

From any computer with internet capability, go to: https://mssa.ismp-canada.org/homecareorg1 to access the Home Care Organizations Medication Safety Self-Assessment® webpage. This webpage will provide all the links you need to print and view the assessment, register, complete the self-assessment, submit your information, and view your results.

Completing the checklist

  1. Establish an interdisciplinary team/task force consisting of, or similar to, the following:
    • Senior administration / management representative
    • Quality / risk management
    • Nurse Practitioner(s) / clinical lead/supervisor
    • Care Co-ordinator(s) (community and hospital)
    • Pharmacist(s)

    Other practitioners and staff (e.g. rapid response nurses) may need to join the core team for evaluation of certain sections of the self-assessment.

    Your team should be provided with sufficient time to complete the self-assessment and charged with responsibility to evaluate, accurately and honestly the current status of medication practices in your organization.

  2. Appoint a team leader to coordinate the process. Organizations should consider appointing a team leader to coordinate the assessment process and to enter and submit the completed assessment.
  3. Schedule two team meetings. Most teams should be able to complete the self-assessment and electronic submission of results after two meetings of 1 – 2 hrs each. Estimated time to complete the self-assessment is three hours.
  4. Print and distribute the checklist before the team meeting so that team members can review and consider the questions in advance.
  5. Complete the "Demographic Information" section.
  6. Discuss each self-assessment item and evaluate the organization's current success in implementating the item. As necessary, investigate and verify the level of implementation for each item with other healthcare practitioners outside the team.

    1. A The item is applicable, but there has been no activity to implement
    2. B This item has been formally discussed for possible implementation, but is not implemented at this time
    3. C This item has been partially implemented, requires more internal development
    4. D This item has been partially implemented, requires more collaboration with partners
    5. E This item has been fully implemented.
  7. Submit data from the completed self-assessment to ISMP Canada electronically through our secure web site at https://mssa.ismp-canada.org/homecareorg1.

  8. The web-based survey tool will immediately download the information into a database maintained solely by ISMP Canada. No data is maintained on the Internet survey form after it has been submitted. The aggregate findings may be used by ISMP Canada for research and education purposes.

    Once you have entered and submitted your information online, you will be prompted to print a report which will summarize your results for each of the self-assessment items, subtotals for each of the sections, and a total score for the entire self-assessment.

    Using our web-based program, you will be able to compare your organization to other demographically similar organizations that have participated in the assessment. Comparisons can be made to the national aggregate if at least 3 sites have participated.