PHARMACY INVOLVEMENT IN PATIENT-FOCUSED CARE IN FLORIDA HOSPITALS

Hospital pharmacy directors in Florida were surveyed to determine the effect of patient-focused care on pharmacy practice. In a statewide ma il survey in 1994, directors were asked whether their hospital had imp lemented patient-focused care or was planning to, what factors influen ced this, whether and how the pharmacy was involved, what changes in s tructure ana services resulted, and how they perceived the impact of p atient-focused care on the practice of hospital pharmacy. They were as ked to identify specific programs, interdisciplinary teams, and opport unities associated with patient-focused care programs. Usable surveys were returned by 148 respondents (48.8% response rate). Fifty-three(35 .8%) of the respondents had implemented patient-focused care and 50 (3 4%) were planning to; 82.5% of these respondents (85 of 103) said phar macists were involved in the planning efforts. Respondents said hospit al administration was most often responsible for initiating patient-fo cused care, and cost was the top-ranked reason. For pharmacy, patient- focused care brought more interdisciplinary activities and new service s. Florida hospital pharmacy directors thought patient focused care wo uld change the practice of pharmacy and that the change would be posit ive.