Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “PHARMACISTS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 361 records · Page 20Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Attitudes of the general public to the expanding role of community pharmacists: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The extension of the role of the community pharmacist in the UK has been under discussion for several years. Professional opinions have been reported. It is important to investigate consumer attitudes towards the acceptability of the proposed new role of the pharmacist. OBJECTIVES: This pilot study investigated the attitudes of consumers to the proposed extended role of the community pharmacist. METHODS: A total of 173 printed questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of patients stratified by age and sex, registered with an urban general practice in the north east of Scotland. The questionnaire asked subjects their views on ideas for new services to be provided by community pharmacists. RESULTS: A total of 96 questionnaires were returned (response rate 55%). Respondents were in favour of community pharmacist involvement in non-medicine-related roles such as 'healthy living' advice but less in favour of roles where the pharmacist would have access to selected information from medical records. CONCLUSION: This pilot study has indicated a range of attitudes towards the extended role of the community pharmacist. It is important to investigate fully consumer attitudes towards the acceptability of the new role of the pharmacist.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2026

Community pharmacists' perspectives on resupplying and prescribing contraceptives: a descriptive qualitative study in Australia.

OBJECTIVES: Australia has commenced implementing contraceptive resupply and prescribing by community pharmacists to improve equity in method access. This study aimed to investigate pharmacist's acceptability of hormonal contraceptive resupply and prescribing. METHODS: Participants were recruited via convenience sampling and had provided contraceptive counseling consistent with the ALLIANCE intervention (i.e. structured, patient-centered, effectiveness-based care) to women seeking the emergency contraceptive pill or presenting prescriptions for medical abortion medicines. This qualitative descriptive study was embedded within the ALLIANCE trial, whose process evaluation included semi-structured interviews with pharmacist participants. The interview guide, containing questions on pharmacists' views of the resupply and prescribing service, was reviewed by the ALLIANCE Trial Chief Investigators and piloted in June 2024 with the SPHERE Pharmacy Advisory Circle. Thirteen questions were developed using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA). Two researchers conducted line-by-line coding using an iteratively refined codebook, with codes mapped to TFA constructs to examine operationalization in pharmacists' delivery of hormonal contraception. KEY FINDINGS: Although pharmacists (n = 24) perceived that the service could be cost- and time-saving to patients, they raised concerns of unintentionally removing general practitioner (GP)-led monitoring of patients and overstepping GPs' roles. While pharmacists felt confident in their expertise and generally supported the service, they expressed hesitation about initiating contraceptive prescriptions, for which they felt further training and access to comprehensive medical records were required. Additional barriers included increased workload pressures, lack of reimbursement, and inadequate staffing. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, providing a resupply service appears to be acceptable to community pharmacists because it relies on the GP's initial assessment but prescribing less so. However, evaluation is needed post-implementation to explore sustainability, feasibility, and long-term impact on patient outcomes.

contraception↗
PubMed2002

[Development and application of an Internet-based educational system to share pharmaceutical case reports between pharmacists].

For pharmacists to enhance skill of pharmaceutical cares, it is necessary to learn many instructive clinical cases, which include drug-related incidences and checks of medication errors by pharmacists. However, these cases tend to be kept in each facility and there is no access to the cases for outside pharmacists. Therefore, we aimed to develop an internet-based educational system to gather such cases, append educational commentaries by university staffs, and share them between pharmacists. An exclusive site was set up on the world wide web (WWW) homepage of the Section of Biopharmaceutics, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University (http://seizai.phar.kyushu-u.ac.jp) on November 2000. Browsing was limited to registered pharmacists. Any pharmacist can be freely registered. Cases were collected via WWW-forms in the site. After educational commentaries and elucidation were appended, the cases were distributed to the registered pharmacists by e-mails and WWW pages. Many applications for membership have been sent from around Japan to have more than 50 members per month, and many cases have been contributed. These cases were distributed weekly by e-mail magazines. The developed system enabled us to share many educational cases of drug-related problems all over the country. This system could contribute to pharmacists to enhance their skills of pharmaceutical cares.

Education, Pharmacy, Continuing↗
PubMed2003

Training and supporting pharmacists to supply progestogen-only emergency contraception.

OBJECTIVE: To describe and evaluate the training and support provided to the first cohort of community pharmacists to supply progestogen-only emergency contraception (POEC) under a Patient Group Direction (PGD) in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham, London. DESIGN: The study comprised (a) a systematic analysis of written and oral data from pharmacists before and during training, and at 5 and 13-14 months after launch; (b) analysis of telephone calls to clinical support and (c) analysis of written pharmacy records. SUBJECTS: A total of 20/22 pharmacists in the first training cohort; 6/23 pharmacists who applied but were not accepted were also followed up. RESULTS: A formal course with role-play was a successful training method, and the course also served as a team-building exercise. Subsequent interviews demonstrated that pharmacists had understood the concept of client confidentiality and gained confidence over time in the use of the PGD. The on-call consultants received 152 calls in the first 12 months of the scheme. Over 80% of the calls concerned clinical criteria (notably including 22% that were queries about oral contraceptives). Frequency ranged from one to eight calls per week with 28% made at weekends. In over half (60%) of the calls the pharmacist was subsequently able to make a supply. Queries over client management resulted in several changes in the protocol. The primary expressed concern for all pharmacists at all time points was how clients might 'misuse' or 'abuse' the service, and this remained a concern despite the fact that it also applies to other routes of supply of POEC. However, the PGD cohort was more positive on local benefits than pharmacists who were not selected. CONCLUSIONS: Training and support have enabled this often-underused group of professionals to participate in an extended reproductive health service. Mobile phones are an essential support tool.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1990

Continuous quality assurance monitoring by staff pharmacists.

The article describes a system of continuous quality assurance monitoring which is accomplished by pharmacists at the medical center. This 856 bed Veterans Affairs facility is provided pharmacy services through a decentralized unit dose distribution system. Pharmacists are assigned to separate patient care areas and provide or coordinate all drug distribution functions and additionally provide clinically-oriented services including quality assurance intervention. Pharmacists are provided guidelines on selected medication therapy which warrant pharmacist monitoring to assure high quality of care. In addition to these guidelines, pharmacists are encouraged to intervene in other therapeutic areas where their expertise favorably impacts quality of patient care. A report of clinically significant intervention is prepared monthly and submitted to the Drug Use Evaluation Subcommittee for review. This report is distributed along with the Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee minutes to all pharmacists, physicians, and supervisory nursing personnel. The system of continuous quality assurance monitoring encourages pharmacists to use their expertise in a manner which assures quality of medical care provided by the medical center. Documentation of pharmacist intervention meets many JCAHO requirements for quality assurance.

Concurrent Review↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Extent of services provided by pharmacists in the Iowa Medicaid Pharmaceutical Case Management program.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the start-up experience with patients identified as eligible during the first four quarters of the Iowa Pharmaceutical Case Management (PCM) program and to characterize the extent of the services proved by pharmacists in the program. DESIGN: Prospective pharmaceutical care intervention project. SETTING: One hundred seventeen community pharmacies in Iowa. PATIENTS: Medicaid patients at high risk for drug-related problems based on using 4 or more nontopical medications and having 1 of 12 specific disease states. INTERVENTION: To become eligible to provide PCM services, licensed pharmacists had to undergo training and submit five care plans to the Iowa Department of Human Services. Community pharmacists were provided names of newly eligible patents each calendar quarter for 1 year. For each patient, pharmacists were asked to indicate by fax whether they had met with the patient, performed a written work-up of the patient, sent recommendations to the patient's physician, and whether the physician replied. When pharmacists were unable to provide the service, they were asked to state the reason. Both the pharmacist and the physician receive $75 for the initial assessment, with additional payments after each follow-up visit performed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: An intensity score and the percentage of eligible patients for whom all steps were completed were calculated for each pharmacy. RESULTS: Fax survey results were retumed for 2,834 (96.7%) of the 2,931 patients eligible for PCM services. Pharmacists met with 943 (33.3%), worked up 763 (26.9%), sent recommendations to physicians for 500 (17.6%), and received replies from physicians for 327 (11.5%) patients. Pharmacists were unable to provide PCM services for 1,891 (66.7%) patients. The primary reasons given for this inability to provide services were patient access issues for 438 (23.2%) patients, pharmacy staffing or start-up issues for 419 (22.2%) patients, or no reason specified for 575 (30.4%) patients. A PCM intensity score was developed to represent the scope of services provided and the number of patients served. A higher intensity score indicated pharmacies that provided PCM to more patients and/or that offered higher levels of care (e.g., provided a written set of recommendations to the physician rather than simply assessing the patient without preparing or sending recommendations). Future evaluations will determine the validity of the score on the basis of patient outcomes. CONCLUSION: Some pharmacies implemented PCM services very effectively. However, 40% to 60% of the pharmacies provided little or no PCM services within 3 months of notification of patient eligibility. Future investigations will evaluate the quality of prescribing and quality of life for patients who received PCM services.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Training and activities of pharmacist prescribers in a California pilot project.

The training of pharmacists allowed to prescribe under protocol in California health manpower pilot projects (HMPPs) and the specific program at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) are described. From 1972 to 1983, several bills were passed allowing pharmacists to prescribe and administer drugs or devices in HMPPs under specified conditions. The main objective of the HMPPs was to train pharmacists to assist physicians and other providers in providing good follow-up care for chronically ill patients. Programs for pharmacists consisted of a training phase followed by an employment phase in which all primary care delivered by the pharmacists was performed under protocols and supervised by physicians. At SFGH ambulatory-care clinics beginning in early 1978, a pharmacist assisted by a licensed vocational nurse monitored patients receiving anticoagulant therapy. A cardiologist reviewed all the medical records at the end of each clinic period. Through July 1, 1983, 3,800 patients had been seen at the SFGH site; a total of 201,000 patients were seen by all HMPP pharmacists. Questionnaires answered by the supervising physicians and by patients indicated that pharmacists prescribed appropriately and were accepted in their roles as primary-care providers. Evaluations of the HMPPs at SFGH and at other sites indicate the success of and the need for these innovative programs.

Anticoagulants↗
PubMed1982

Pharmacist-managed allergy desensitization program.

A pharmacist-managed immunotherapy program for ambulatory atopic patients is described. Pharmacists in a network of three health centers recommended that they assume management of the allergy desensitization program when they recognized problems with the existing program. Guidelines for the immunotherapy service were developed and approved by the pharmacy, therapeutics, and standing orders committee. Patients, already tested by an allergist, are referred to the pharmacists for the administration of their immunotherapy. Under the guidelines for the program, pharmacists collect and record the patients' history, assess the patients' knowledge of allergy desensitization, administer the allergens, examine the injection site, question the patients about symptoms, and initiate treatment of local and systemic reactions. A physician is available for consultation and for treatment of life-threatened adverse reactions. Following any reaction, the pharmacist adjusts the next antigen dose accordingly. Typical charges for these services are $10-15 for the first visit, and $3.50 for subsequent visits. The pharmacists spend about 30 minutes of their time for the initial visits, and 10 minutes for subsequent visits. The time spent by physicians is negligible, and there is no charge for their consultations. Patients under the care of the pharmacists rarely wait more than 15 minutes for an appointment. This service has been well accepted by patients, physicians, and mid-level practitioners. Pharmacists are using their knowledge and skills to provide a direct patient-care service, and they are being reimbursed for a nondispensing activity.

Allergens↗
PubMed1999

A prospective, randomized trial to assess the cost impact of pharmacist-initiated interventions.

BACKGROUND: Hospital pharmacists make many recommendations that improve patients' quality of care and/or reduce drug costs. While the impact of quality-of-care interventions is difficult to quantify, those limited to cost savings could be assessed in a prospective, randomized fashion. OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of pharmacist-initiated interventions on cost savings. METHODS: Six pharmacists at a large university hospital recorded patient-specific recommendations for 30 days. All quality-of-care interventions were completed by the pharmacists, but those strictly aimed at reducing costs were stratified by drug class and randomized to an intervention or control group. Pharmacists contacted physicians with cost-saving recommendations in the intervention group, while control group patients were simply observed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Drug costs after randomization. RESULTS: Most (n=967 [79%]) of the 1226 interventions recorded were aimed at improving quality of care. The remaining 259 (21%) provided equivalent quality of care, but at less expense. These cost-saving interventions typically involved streamlining therapy to less expensive agents (39%), discontinuing an unnecessary medication (25%), or modifying the route of administration (24%). The group randomized to receive a pharmacist's intervention had drug costs that were 41% lower than those in the control group (mean, $73.75 vs $43.40; P<.001). Interventions involving anti-infective agents had the greatest cost savings (mean, $104.08 vs $58.45; P<.001). For our institution, this extrapolates to an annual savings of approximately $394,000 (95% confidence interval, $46,000-$742,000). As expected, these interventions had no impact on length of hospital stay, in-hospital mortality, 30-day readmissions, or the need to readminister the targeted medication or restart intravenous therapy. CONCLUSIONS: While interventions solely aimed at reducing costs represent a small portion of a pharmacist's activities, they can result in significant savings for an institution.

Cost Control↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An internal rate of return approach to investigate pharmacist supply in the United States.

Internal rates of return were used to examine the status of pharmacist supply in the United States between the years 1987-1991. Age-earnings profiles were estimated for pharmacists, college graduates and high school graduates. Rates of return to pharmacists and college graduates were compared and a ratio of the pharmacist rate to the college graduate rate was computed for each year. Results suggest a shortage of pharmacists in the United States. Enrollments in pharmacy schools and adopted changes in the training of pharmacists are discussed in relation to their effects on the pharmacist labour market.

Adult↗
PubMed2007

Pharmacists' attitudes towards the reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions in Norway.

BACKGROUND: In Scandinavian countries, pharmacists have not reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs), either due to legislative restrictions or because of lack of tradition. From 1 January 2005, Norwegian pharmacists have been encouraged by the Norwegian Medicines Agency to take a larger role in the reporting of ADRs. OBJECTIVE: To explore pharmacists' attitudes towards pharmacovigilance and their experiences with ADR reporting, to evaluate the effect of an educational programme and to compare these findings to the attitudes in a control group. METHODS: From September 2004, pharmacies in two of Norway's five health regions were invited to attend a 3-month ADR reporting study, and 39 pharmacies were recruited. One pharmacist from each pharmacy participated in a 1 day pre-study educational programme and a 1 day post-study evaluation meeting. Pharmacists involved in the study answered a questionnaire (A) regarding their attitudes to ADR reporting (active group). A control group answered the same questionnaire. One reminder was sent. The active group evaluated the study by answering questionnaire A once more and an evaluation questionnaire (B). Qualitative aspects of ADR reporting were discussed with the active group post-study. RESULTS: The response rate for questionnaire A was 97% (n = 158) in the active group, 74% (n = 184) in the control group and the response rate for questionnaire A and B post-study was 68% (n = 105) in the active group. Pharmacists in the active group had more positive attitudes to ADR reporting after taking part in the study than the control group (p < 0.001). Lack of time, confidence and knowledge of reporting rules could potentially prevent them from reporting ADRs. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacists had positive attitudes towards pharmacovigilance, but very little experience with reporting. The educational programme clarified their role and increased their knowledge about the reporting requirements.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The role of community pharmacists in health education and disease prevention: a survey of their interests and needs in relation to cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: Recently there has been increased interest in broadening the role of community pharmacists to include more health education and disease prevention activities such as patient counseling for risk management and interventions to improve compliance. However, to date, there is little information on interest in prevention among community pharmacists or on their current prevention practices. METHOD: Data on current health education and disease prevention practices, as well as interest in expanding their role in prevention, were collected in a cross-sectional mail survey of a random representative sample of community pharmacists currently practicing in the province of Quebec. RESULTS: Among 597 eligible subjects, 455 (76.2%) completed the questionnaire. Few pharmacists practice prevention routinely. Independent correlates of engaging in prevention included working in a smaller pharmacy (odds ratio (OR) 3. 2 (95% confidence interval 2.0-5.3)), owning the pharmacy (OR 1.9 (1. 2-3.0)), moderate/high job satisfaction (OR 2.1 (1.4-4.3)), and history of prevention activities in the pharmacy (OR 2.2 (1.4-3.6)). Over 90% of respondents reported that integrating prevention into their practices was important. Independent correlates of high perceived importance included working as a salaried pharmacist (OR 2. 3 (1.4-3.8)), high job satisfaction (OR 4.1 (1.7-9.7)), and currently practicing prevention (OR 2.0 (1.2-3.2)). The most important perceived barriers to integrating prevention included lack of time and lack of skills/instrumentation for practicing prevention. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable interest among community pharmacists in expanding their role to include more prevention, but there are many barriers to actualizing this role. Further work should focus on ways to overcome these barriers because pharmacists are particularly well-situated to make an important contribution to prevention.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Providing pharmacy services to care homes in Northern Ireland: a survey of community pharmacists' views.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the views of community pharmacists as to their present and potential role in providing care to the residents of nursing and residential home in Northern Ireland. METHOD: A structured questionnaire was developed and mailed to all community pharmacists in Northern Ireland (n = 508) on 2 occasions. RESULTS: A response rate of 50% was achieved. Over 40% of responding pharmacists (42.1%) were currently providing medication-related services to care homes for the elderly and 57.9% were not. Of those who were providing services, 50 to 80% were already providing advice to care homes regarding record-keeping, compliance devices, storage and administration of medicines and the use of more appropriate formulations. More than 75% of pharmacists who were not providing services to care homes for the elderly supported all services detailed in a checklist provided on the questionnaire. For pharmacists who were providing services to care homes, 89% agreed that they required access to an up-to-date medical history of care home residents. Over 60% of pharmacists who worked with care homes had experienced difficulties when ordering prescriptions from general practice surgeries. Just over 75% of all respondents stated that they wanted to be more involved in providing pharmaceutical services to care homes to the elderly. CONCLUSION: Community pharmacists expressed enthusiasm for provision of services to care home residents. On-going developments in community pharmacy practice in the UK may facilitate the development of this role and may guide policy development for long-term care in other countries.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Hospital pharmacists' awareness of a new antibiotic guideline in the UK: implications for practice.

OBJECTIVES: Pharmacists play an important role in the review of local hospital guidelines. British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines for the management of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) were updated in 2001, and it is important that individual hospital recommendations are based upon this national guidance. The aim of this study was to identify UK Chief Pharmacists' awareness of these updated guidelines one year after their publication. Secondary aims were to identify whether pharmacists had subsequently initiated revision of institutional CAP guidelines, and what roles different professional staff had performed in this process. METHOD: A self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to the Chief Pharmacist (or their nominated staff) in 253 UK NHS hospitals in November 2002. This aimed to identify issues relating to their awareness of the 2001 BTS guidelines and subsequent revision of their hospital's guidelines. RESULTS: 188 questionnaires were returned (a response rate of 74%), of which 164 hospitals had local antibiotic prescribing guidelines. Respondents in 29% of these hospitals were unaware of the 2001 BTS publication and institutional guidelines had been revised in only 51% of hospitals where the Chief Pharmacist was purportedly aware of the new BTS guidance. Generally, more staff types were involved in revising guidelines than initiating revision. CONCLUSIONS: Variability existed in both Chief Pharmacists' awareness of new national guidance and subsequent review processes operating in individual hospitals. A lack of proactive reaction to new national guidance was identified in some hospitals, and it is hoped that the establishment of specialist "infectious diseases pharmacists" will facilitate the review of institutional antibiotic prescribing guidelines in the future.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed2005

Flemish community pharmacists' motivation and views related to continuing education.

OBJECTIVE: IPSA (Institute for Permanent Study for Pharmacists) wanted to assess community pharmacists' opinion on CE-related issues in order to develop more tailored CE programs. METHOD: A survey for self-administration was sent to 1691 community pharmacists. The method of stratified sampling was used to include pharmacists who do not take up CE courses as well. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Preferences for course formats, topics of interest and opinion on different CE providers; (2) Facilitators and barriers for participation in CE courses; (3) Opinion on rewarding and participation, obligation and willingness to pay. RESULTS: A response rate of 62.8% was obtained after three mailings. Lectures remain the most favorite course format. Topics related to pharmaceutical care are the most wanted. The strongest facilitators for attending CE courses are gathering practical knowledge and keeping scientific knowledge up to standard. Social contact with colleagues and receiving a syllabus are perceived as moderately motivating factors. Most frequently mentioned barriers were lack of time, family constraints, distance to the classes and uninteresting subjects. Around 2/3rd of questioned pharmacists are willing to invest more time in CE when participation would be rewarded. When it comes to opinion on mandatory CE, disagreement exists between pharmacists who take up CE courses and those who don't, the latter being less in favor. CONCLUSION: This survey revealed community pharmacists' opinions, wishes and needs concerning CE. This should enable CE providers to develop more tailored CE programs.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Characteristics of drug-related problems discussed by hospital pharmacists in multidisciplinary teams.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate pharmacist contribution in the therapeutic hospital team by studying drug-related problems (DRPs), pharmacist therapy advice and consequences of the advice. METHODS: From May to December 2002, 827 patients in five Norwegian hospitals were included in the study. Demographic data, drugs used, relevant medical history, laboratory data and clinical/pharmacological risk factors were recorded prospectively at the wards. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: DRPs, patients characteristics, pharmacist advice to physicians, nurses or patients, response to the pharmacist advice, and reasons (stated by the pharmacist) for not discussing an identified DRP, were reported. An independent quality assessment team retrospectively assessed the DRPs for a randomly selected number of the study population. RESULTS: On average 2.6 DRPs per patient were found. A total of 2128 DRPs were registered and of these 1583 (74%) DRPs were brought up for discussion. Physician immediate acceptance rates varied from 80% (for extremely important clinically significant DRPs) to 50% (for DRPs of minor clinical significance). High age, use of many drugs at admission, existence of many DRPs and many clinical/pharmacological risk factors for DRPs were associated with low immediate acceptance rate. Type of DRP influenced how the DRP was discussed; adverse drug reaction (ADR) and unnecessary drug were discussed with physicians while e.g. medical chart error and need for patient education were discussed with nurses/patients. Reasons for not discussing DRPs in the team were: not given priority (37%), no longer relevant (31%) and others (31%). DRPs of minor clinical significance were most often excluded from discussion (37%) as opposed to 14% and 22% of those of moderate and major clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients had one or more DRPs. The problems identified as DRPs by the pharmacists were accepted as such by the physicians and to a high degree acted upon. Both clinical significance of the DRP and patient characteristics influenced physician immediate acceptance rate. Some DRPs could be solved by direct contact with nurses or the patients. Awareness of DRPs increases through participation of pharmacists in the multidisciplinary therapeutic hospital team.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Euthanatics: implementation of a protocol to standardise euthanatics among pharmacists and GPs.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a protocol to standardise euthanatics among pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs). Data over 1993 and 1994 were collected by means of an anonymous postal questionnaire sent to all pharmacists (n = 37) and all GPs (n = 283) working in the area in which the protocol was implemented. In total, 76% of the pharmacists and 63% of the GPs responded. All pharmacists and 65% of the GPs were aware of the existence of the protocol and all pharmacists and 42% of the GPs were also familiar with the content of the protocol. Both pharmacists and GPs had fairly positive attitudes towards the importance and possibility of the standardisation of euthanatics. Of the GPs who performed euthanasia or assisted with suicide during the research period, 59% made use of one or more standard packages. The majority of pharmacists and GPs were satisfied with the standard packages, and all GPs indicated that they intend to use the packages again in the future. This study shows that the implementation of standardised euthanatics was quite successful.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Transformation of a pharmacy department: impact on pharmacist interventions, error prevention, and cost.

BACKGROUND: Current medical literature supports the unit-based (UB) pharmacy concept as a best practice. In an effort to determine its feasibility, Huntsville Hospital (Huntsville, Alabama) conducted a pilot study to compare the central-based (CB) model with the UB model and then implemented the new model. IMPLEMENTING THE PILOT STUDY: Data were collected for two high-volume nursing units for 10 days for each model. Pharmacists practicing in the UB setting documented more interventions than the CB pharmacist by a factor of three to one, resulting in an 85% increase in cost avoidance. IMPLEMENTING THE UB MODEL: Converting the pharmacy services to a UB model entailed creating 16 new pharmacist positions. Extrapolation of the savings for the UB model ($520 per day) and the CB model ($280) for 1 year suggested that adoption of the UB model would generate an additional $87,600 in cost avoidance for these two nursing units. Each new pharmacist was trained for at least 3 months before being scheduled to work independently as a UB pharmacist. Clinical interventions by pharmacists greatly increased after implementation of the UB model. The baseline monthly average of interventions for the 6 months before implementation was 239, and the monthly cost avoidance was $21,300. In October 2001, the first full month of implementation, there were 1,315 interventions and a monthly cost avoidance of $130,192. SUMMARY: Converting to the UB model has required a considerable increase in the number of pharmacist positions, yet there has been a dramatic increase in clinical pharmacy interventions, with a corresponding decrease in drug expenditures.

Alabama↗