RESUMO
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists state that nurses should not administer investigational drugs to patients unless they can prove knowledge about the medication. Traditionally this obligation was met when the pharmacy provided nurses with investigational drug data sheets or access to computer files containing similar information. Our department of pharmacy was cited at a recent JCAHO inspection as being unable to show that nurses were knowledgeable about the investigational medications they were administering. The reviewer requested testing documents prepared by the pharmacy and completed by nursing staff showing the nurses' proficiency with investigational drug information. In response to the JCAHO inspection, the department of pharmacy proposed a quality assurance mechanism to provide investigational drug information and to determine nurses' comprehension and application of these data before they administer any investigational drug. Use of a hospital mainframe computer system to disseminate investigational drug information and test nurses is described.