Hospital pharmacy service provision in Australia - 1998

The results of a 1998 national survey of pharmaceutical services in hospita ls throughout Australia are reported A self-administered questionnaire was sent to all directors of hospital pha rmacy services and senior hospital pharmacy managers to determine the exten t of clinical and nonclinical pharmacy services provided by hospitals in Au stralia. Respondents chose the services their departments provide from a li st of 26 commonly provided services. The response rate was 58.5%. Respondents were fairly evenly-divided between teaching and nonteaching hospitals, but most of the respondents were from public (versus nongovernment) hospitals. The five most commonly provided se rvices were imprest (a wordstock of frequently used medications that are re gularly restocked by the pharmacy department), informal drug education for hospital staff, review of medication charts, control of drug purchasing, an d inpatient dispensing. Review of medication charts and provision of drug e ducation for the hospital staff were the most widely provided clinical phar macy services. The most common services available from hospital pharmacies throughout Aust ralia were imprest, informal drug education for hospital staff, review of m edication charts, control of drug purchasing for the hospital and inpatient dispensing.