Pharmacy practice management Health

ASHP s Center on Pharmacy Practice Management monitors, analyzes, and reports on trends in pharmacy practice management. It conducts and publishes an annual national survey of pharmacy practice in health systems, conducts a leadership conference on pharmacy practice management, and coordinates other educational sessions at ASHP meetings. 

With the Code of Ethics suggesting that pharmacists not discuss drug therapies with their patients, the profession lost sight of the need for pharmacists to communicate effectively with patients and other health care professionals. As the number of hospital and chain pharmacies expanded, resulting in pharmacists being more likely to be employees rather than business owners, the importance of practice management skills was not stressed in schools of pharmacy. Ironically, studies such as the Dichter Report commissioned by the APhA revealed that consumers regarded pharmacists more as merchants than as health care professionals (Maine and Penna, 1996). 

Another resource that is very important to managers is people. In pharmacy practice, there is very little that any one person can accomplish on his or her own, regardless of the practice setting. Pharmacists must work with other employees in their pharmacies, other health care professionals, and especially the patients and customers they serve. Given the importance of this topic, an entire section of this book (Chapters 8 through 14) is dedicated to the management of people. 

About the Author Dr. Mosavin is Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science at Loma Linda University s School of Pharmacy. Dr. Mosavin received a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Kansas, a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Dr. Mosavin has experience in pharmaceutical industry, hospital pharmacy, and ambulatory care pharmacy settings. His research interests encompass economic evaluation of health care delivery systems and the role of pharmacists in these systems (especially as it relates to management of chronic diseases by pharmacists). Another key area of his research is analysis of economic gains achieved by health information technology implementation in ambulatory care pharmacy practice. 

About the Authors Dr. Farmer is Associate Professor of Pharmacy Administration at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center College of Pharmacy. He received a B.S. in pharmacy and Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dr. Farmer has experience in retail and hospital pharmacy practice settings and marketing research in the pharmaceutical industry. He teaches courses in U.S. health care systems and policy, financial management, and pharmaceutical marketing. Dr. Farmer s research is focused on issues related to medication adherence and health and economic consequences of health and medication health care policies. 

A STATE PRACTICE ACT/BOARD OF PHARMACY PROVISION Trudy Hamilton, Pharm.D., is a licensed pharmacist and is currently the manager of a hospital pharmacy department. In the state where Dr. Hamilton is licensed, nonpharmacist personnel are prohibited by both statute (the state pharmacy practice act) and state board of pharmacy regulation from engaging in activities defined as the practice of pharmacy. The specific activities that fall within the definition of the practice of pharmacy are limited to being personally performed by licensed pharmacists only. Such activities include counseling patients about their medications and responding to drug information requests from other health care professionals (e.g., physicians and nurses). 

Allen SJ. Purchasing and inventory management. In Brown TR, Ed., Handbook of Institutional Pharmacy Practice. Bethesda, MD American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, 1992, pp. 73-79. 

Source American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, 1999 Survey of Managed Care and Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Practice. 

Residency programs last one to two years. The typical training site is a practice setting such as an academic health center, a community pharmacy, a managed care organization, a skilled nursing facility, or a home health care agency. 

Managed care has penetrated most geographic areas within the United States and essentially all health care settings. As a result, career opportunities for clinical pharmacists are vast and diverse. While previously pharmacists interested in managed care positions were limited to settings such as pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies or insurance companies, career opportunities in managed care have expanded and are available in hospitals, clinics, and private practices in both urban and rural areas. 

Knapp, K.K. Blalock, S.J. O Malley, C.H. Survey of Managed Care and Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Practice in Integrated Health Systems, 1999 ASHP Bethesda, MD, 1999 5. 

Practice management guideline S Initiate and maintain ongoing self-assessments of the safety of individual clinical practices as well as with the health care team, the pharmacy department, and the organization. Use the learning experiences of others and self to proactively implement known best practices locally to prevent medication errors and to develop your own safety audit tools. Be dissatisfied with the status quo and seek to develop an error management vision and then take the practical first steps to implement it. 

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