Abstract
The aim of this review is to describe the implications of clinical pharmacy in Finnish hospital pharmacy and pharmacy services on the wards, including health centres. The review describes how pharmacists (BScPharm and MScPharm) working in hospitals define clinical pharmacy, which services they provide, how they would like to develop clinical pharmacy services on the wards, and how the
benefits of the clinical pharmacy services have been explored.
The review is mainly based on two recent Master’s thesis projects (Tyynismaa 2012, Ryynänen E-R, unpublished observation, 2013). Tyynismaa (2012) explored the availability and the range of clinical pharmacy services on the wards with a postal survey sent to all hospital pharmacies (n=24) and most health centre pharmacies (n=94), whose contact details were available through the records of the Hospital and Health Centre Pharmacy Association (Satefa, a member association of the Finnish Pharmacists’ Association). Altogether 71 pharmacies responded (20 hospital pharmacies and 51 health centre pharmacies). Half of them (n=36) reported provision of pharmacy services on the wards. Ryynänen (unpublished observation, 2013) used semi-structured interviews (n=11) to explore the perceptions of hospital pharmacists (BScPharm and MScPharm) who participated in a clinical pharmacy course at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, of clinical pharmacy.
The interviewed hospital pharmacists considered that it is important in clinical pharmacy to have a patient centred approach aimed to ensure the quality of patients’ medicine use and medication safety. The most common tasks of the ward pharmacists were giving medicines information to other healthcare professionals, managing ward stock of medicines, and dispensing. Of the 20 different kinds of pharmacy services reported on the wards, 13 were regarded as clinical pharmacy services. Most hospital pharmacies (n=30/36) that already provided services on the wards wanted to further develop these services. Their intention was to extend their services to more wards, and they wanted to
concentrate on providing clinical pharmacy services, such as clinical medication reviews and checks, medicines information, and in-house training. Many of the hospital pharmacies (n=14/34) that did not provide any services on the wards at the point of the study were planning to do so in the future.
A third of the hospital pharmacies that provided services on the wards (n=12/36) had evaluated some of the benefits of these services. The measures applied to the evaluations included financial savings, patient safety, and satisfaction with services provided. In the future, it is important to identify
which services would benefit patients and healthcare most and set goals for their development accordingly. Further research is required to demonstrate the outcomes of clinical pharmacy services and their impact on patient care. Special attention should be paid on research methods and outcomes measures used in order to develop sound evidence.
benefits of the clinical pharmacy services have been explored.
The review is mainly based on two recent Master’s thesis projects (Tyynismaa 2012, Ryynänen E-R, unpublished observation, 2013). Tyynismaa (2012) explored the availability and the range of clinical pharmacy services on the wards with a postal survey sent to all hospital pharmacies (n=24) and most health centre pharmacies (n=94), whose contact details were available through the records of the Hospital and Health Centre Pharmacy Association (Satefa, a member association of the Finnish Pharmacists’ Association). Altogether 71 pharmacies responded (20 hospital pharmacies and 51 health centre pharmacies). Half of them (n=36) reported provision of pharmacy services on the wards. Ryynänen (unpublished observation, 2013) used semi-structured interviews (n=11) to explore the perceptions of hospital pharmacists (BScPharm and MScPharm) who participated in a clinical pharmacy course at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, of clinical pharmacy.
The interviewed hospital pharmacists considered that it is important in clinical pharmacy to have a patient centred approach aimed to ensure the quality of patients’ medicine use and medication safety. The most common tasks of the ward pharmacists were giving medicines information to other healthcare professionals, managing ward stock of medicines, and dispensing. Of the 20 different kinds of pharmacy services reported on the wards, 13 were regarded as clinical pharmacy services. Most hospital pharmacies (n=30/36) that already provided services on the wards wanted to further develop these services. Their intention was to extend their services to more wards, and they wanted to
concentrate on providing clinical pharmacy services, such as clinical medication reviews and checks, medicines information, and in-house training. Many of the hospital pharmacies (n=14/34) that did not provide any services on the wards at the point of the study were planning to do so in the future.
A third of the hospital pharmacies that provided services on the wards (n=12/36) had evaluated some of the benefits of these services. The measures applied to the evaluations included financial savings, patient safety, and satisfaction with services provided. In the future, it is important to identify
which services would benefit patients and healthcare most and set goals for their development accordingly. Further research is required to demonstrate the outcomes of clinical pharmacy services and their impact on patient care. Special attention should be paid on research methods and outcomes measures used in order to develop sound evidence.
| Translated title of the contribution | Clinical pharmacy in hospitals and on hospital wards in Finland |
|---|---|
| Original language | Finnish |
| Journal | Dosis : farmaseuttinen aikakauskirja |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 28-38 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| ISSN | 0783-4233 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Fields of Science
- 317 Pharmacy
- clinical pharmacy
- hospital pharmacy
- medication safety
- PATIENT SAFETY
- specialisation training