The New South Wales Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC), in consultation with the Commission has made the decision to decommission the Medication Safety Self-Assessment (MSSA®) for Australian Hospitals on 30 September 2025. In August 2025, the Commission will remove references to the MSSA® for Australian Hospitals on its website and as an example in the guidance about meeting the requirements of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Medication Safety Standard.
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Medication errors are one of the most reported clinical incidents in acute health care settings and, while rates of serious harm are low, their prevalence is of concern particularly as many are preventable. A recognised major cause of medication errors is the use of potentially dangerous abbreviations and dose expressions.
The National Standard Medication Chart (NSMC) audit aims to improve the safety and quality of medication charting in Australian hospitals who use paper-based NSMCs. Audit data can help health service organisations evaluate the effectiveness of NSMC safety features. These features can contribute to improved health outcomes for patients and identify areas for continuous quality improvement within hospitals.
The Governance Framework embeds clinical trials into routine health service provision and strengthens the clinical and corporate governance arrangements for governments, hospital administrators, health services, private companies, trial sponsors and trial investigators.
The National Indicators for Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) in Australian Hospitals 2014 support measurement of safety and quality of medicines use for quality improvement purposes, and to help health services to drive changes in healthcare practice. The indicators have been designed for local use.
Obtaining a best possible medication history (BPMH) is an important first step in medication reconciliation.
The Commission has developed a range of resources for consumers, clinicians and health service organisations to support improvements in health literacy.
Medication charts help to standardise medication management and can increase medication safety.
The charts are based on the best evidence available at the time of development. Healthcare professionals are advised to use clinical discretion and consider the circumstances for individual patients when using the charts for patient medication management in acute care settings.
Top Tips for Safe Health Care is designed to help consumers, their families, carers and other support people get the most out of their health care.
Question Builder is a free online tool to help you think about the questions you might like to ask your doctor, and to prepare for questions they may ask you when you go to an appointment.
Decision support tools can encourage shared decision making by informing discussions between clinicians and consumers.
Well-designed incident management systems assist patients, carers, families and the workforce to identify, report, manage and learn from incidents.
CARAlert collects, analyses and reports on nationally agreed priority organisms with critical resistances to last-line antimicrobials.
The Commission’s Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Australia (AURA) Project contributes to the national program for surveillance of antimicrobial use and resistance in human health across Australia.
The Commission has prepared an information sheet about how care should be provided to people at the end of life in hospitals. It provides patients, family members, carers and consumers with useful information.
A hospital-acquired complication (HAC) refers to a complication for which clinical risk mitigation strategies may reduce (but not necessarily eliminate) the risk of that complication occurring.
Getting the best outcomes for patients and reducing harm are the goals of the Atlas series. Each Atlas examines a series of health topics, investigates variation and the possible reasons for it, and provides specific achievable actions to reduce unwarranted variation.
Quality statement 2
A patient requiring intravenous access receives information and education about their need for the device and the procedure. Their consent is obtained and they are advised on their role in reducing the risk of device-related complications.
The rate of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SABSI) in a hospital is considered to be an indication of the effectiveness of the hospital’s infection prevention and control program.