​Christine Zdaniewski serves as the lead pharmacist for decentralized patient care services, a critical care clinical pharmacy specialist, and the PGY1 pharmacy residency program director at UPMC Hamot. In 2024, she reported 16 medication-related events, of which 10 were good catches or pharmacy interventions that had significant patient impact. Through chart reviews and rounding on her units, she detected and prevented multiple severe drug-drug interactions, optimized drug therapy with appropriate dosing, and prevented significant harm by escalating inappropriate drug therapies.

The most important aspects of her work are her dedication to education and her commitment to driving positive change. She does not just find and report issues but follows up with the entire team caring for the patient and provides education to prevent future errors. She educates the care team, unit directors, nurses, providers, and the pharmacy team as needed. She partners with other departments to ensure clear and concise communication and escalates issues to local committees, as well as to system-level service line leaders to ensure appropriate interventions are implemented across the system. She ensures that the pharmacy residency program attracts the most qualified candidates, provides the best training, and instills in them a commitment to patient safety and pharmacy involvement in the care team.

One example of Zdaniewski’s contributions is her reporting of a medication event involving low-dose ketamine administration for pain, a therapy that was new to the facility at the time. She not only reported the event, but also partnered with the ordering physician and his team to develop educational materials for pharmacy and nursing. She ensured that the associated policies were updated and continues to communicate with the morning safety huddles and pharmacy team to ensure medication availability for patients scheduled for procedures requiring this therapy.

Another example is her discovery of multiple instances of orders approved with a severe drug-drug interaction between carbapenems and valproic acid. She intervened to prevent additional administration to the patients, and she prepared and provided education to the pharmacy team to help prevent future orders from being approved. She provided the background information, explained the “why” behind the concern, outlined the potential risks, and explained the appropriate procedures to prevent the error in the future.​​