Alumna Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Editor's note: This article was written prior to University of the Sciences' merger with and into Saint Joseph's University and does not reflect the current, combined institution. References to programs, offices, colleges, employees, etc., may be historical information.

’’The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) will present Patricia Kienle ’75 (P), RPh, MPA, BCSCP, FASHP, with a Lifetime Achievement Award during its 24th Annual Cheers Awards on December 7, 2021. The ISMP Cheers Awards honor individuals, organizations, and companies that have set a standard of excellence for others to follow in the prevention of medication errors and adverse drug events.

Kienle is being acknowledged for her leadership and longstanding commitment to medication safety. Kienle is one of the nation’s foremost experts on medication management as well as accreditation and regulatory issues, especially in the areas of sterile compounding, hazardous drugs, and radiopharmaceuticals. She has almost a half century of experience helping healthcare administrators develop and execute comprehensive medication management programs in acute and non-acute care environments, and currently is Director of Accreditation and Medication Safety for Cardinal Health.

Kienle has completed an executive fellowship in patient safety at Virginia Commonwealth University and frequently offers her expertise on areas that impact error prevention. She is a former board member of ISMP and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and has served as president of the Pennsylvania Society of Hospital Pharmacists. She is a current member and past vice-chair of USP’s Compounding Expert Committee and has served on The Joint Commission’s Medication Compounding Technical Advisory Panel.

Kienle has earned numerous state and national awards and has been awarded a U.S. patent for a safe and ergonomic storage system for medical supplies.

About the Institute for Safe Medication Practices

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is the nation’s first 501c (3) nonprofit organization devoted entirely to preventing medication errors. ISMP is known and respected for its medication safety information. For more than 25 years, it also has served as a vital force for progress. ISMP’s advocacy work alone has resulted in numerous necessary changes in clinical practice, public policy, and drug labeling and packaging. Among its many initiatives, ISMP runs the only national voluntary practitioner medication error reporting program, publishes newsletters with real-time error information read and trusted throughout the global healthcare community, and offers a wide range of unique educational programs, tools, and guidelines. In 2020, ISMP formally affiliated with ECRI to create one of the largest healthcare quality and safety entities in the world, and ECRI and the ISMP PSO is a federally certified patient safety organization by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As an independent watchdog organization, ISMP receives no advertising revenue and depends entirely on charitable donations, educational grants, newsletter subscriptions, and volunteer efforts to pursue its life-saving work. Visit www.ismp.org