Dr. Anne Parnell Named 2023 Drive to Zero Harm Leadership Award Winner
The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Anne Parnell, Associate Chief of Inpatient Pharmacy at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System, is one of our two 2024 Drive to Zero Harm Leadership Award winners.
Parnell at SCHA’s BetterState23 Summit
Throughout her tenure, Dr. Parnell’s leadership has repeatedly been sought by nursing and physician leaders in her hospital when safety issues arise, even on topics that span beyond the pharmacy. She has demonstrably impacted patient safety in all areas of medication management throughout the facility and regionally in the VA system.
Dr. Parnell’s many patient safety accomplishments include expanding clinical pharmacy services in the internal medicine, inpatient surgery and emergency departments to improve collaboration, providing proactive interventions, and ensuring effective medication reconciliation on both admissions and discharges. She also participated in a range of other projects, ranging from improving medication dosage during dialysis to developing new processes to detect duplicate medications and improve baseline quality metrics.
“Under her leadership, the IV room in the pharmacy has greatly improved their policies and procedures to improve medication safety and proactively meet new regulations and upcoming process changes,” said Dr. Sharon Castle, Chief of Pharmacy Services at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System. “Her guidance on a new barcode-based systems that were implemented to ensure accuracy and improve safety for compounded medications was also invaluable, leading to a more than 95% compliance through the semi-automated system.”
In addition to being a leader and champion of process improvement, Dr. Parnell is also a champion for highly reliable organization principles and Just Culture. In June 2023, for instance, she dedicated time during the facility’s inpatient pharmacy staff retreat for an educational session focusing on Just Culture entitled “Refocusing: Purpose and Perspective.” The session reiterated the importance of the role pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have
in patient safety. Dr. Parnell also routinely engages all levels of staff in patient safety by telling stories that promote Just Culture and full transparency. Her department’s “All Employee Survey” scores exceed all national benchmarks and the inpatient pharmacy staff have continued to have a high reporting rate of patient safety concerns.
Above all, her values and principles align with the Veterans Affairs Mission, and her leadership directly impacts her facility’s journey to Zero Harm. We thank Dr. Parnell for her leadership and dedication to improving the quality of care for our nation’s veterans!
Media Contact: Kyle Petersen