Under her direction, reporting programs have become a significant component of the USP’s standards-setting processes. In 1995-96, she organized the first USP Advisory Panel on Medication Errors and spearheaded the development of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention. She currently serves as the USP delegate, and Secretary, to this National Council. In 1998, Ms. Cousins was instrumental in the creation of USP’s MEDMARX®, a national anonymous, Internet-accessible database for reporting hospital medication errors and adverse events. She is an advisor to several national error reduction projects and grants and in October 2004 was appointed to the Joint Commission Sentinel Event Advisory Group. Ms. Cousins is on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Joint Commission’s Perspectives on Patient Safety and is a member of the International Steering Committee for the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety. She has recently been appointed co-chair of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance Patient Safety Cluster.
Ms. Cousins has presented and published widely on the topic of medication errors. Publications include contributing editor for the Joint Commission’s book, Medication Use: A Systems Approach to Reducing Errors, a resource for measuring, improving and monitoring medication use systems; book chapters in Medication Errors, published by the American Pharmacists Association; Medication Errors: A New Challenge for the Pharmaceutical Industry for the Encyclopedia of Pharmaceutical Technology; an article entitled Medication Errors in Children: A Descriptive Summary of Medication Error Reports Submitted to the United States Pharmacopeia (Current Therapeutic Research); and authored USP’s Advancing Patient Safety in U.S. Hospitals, Basic Strategies for Success. Ms. Cousins has also been widely cited by print and broadcast media.
Ms. Cousins is a graduate of Rutgers University College of Pharmacy, and is a registered pharmacist in New Jersey and Maryland. She is a member of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). In June 2005, Ms. Cousins was awarded the APhA Foundation’s Pinnacle Award for her contributions in the improvement of product quality and prevention of medication errors.