Regional hospital pharmacy information index

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Information Science
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Duplication of effort in creating written materials for hospital pharmacy practice is a common challenge.
• Lack of a centralized system hinders access to existing regional resources.
• Need for efficient methods to share and update pharmacy-related documents across institutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement an index system for regionally available written materials in hospital pharmacy.
• To facilitate resource sharing and avoid redundant work among participating hospitals.
• To establish a central repository for pharmacy practice documents maintained by a drug information center.

Main Methods:

• Eight acute-care hospitals collaborated to develop the index system.
• A regional drug information center agreed to maintain the index and repository.
• Materials were categorized and indexed, including newsletters, bulletins, drug monographs, and policies, with a three-year back-index period.

Main Results:

• An up-to-date index of regional pharmacy practice written materials was successfully created.
• The index system prioritized high-demand materials like newsletters, bulletins, and drug monographs.
• The system utilizes a word processor for efficient updating and has proven useful to participating departments.

Conclusions:

• The developed index system effectively addresses the need for resource sharing in hospital pharmacy.
• Collaboration among hospitals and a central drug information center is key to the system's success.
• The system provides a valuable, up-to-date resource, with plans for formal evaluation and refinement.