2016 Volume 42 Issue 1 Pages 1-6
“Additional pharmacist ward operations” were established by revision of the medical payment system in 2012. This new category of operations for pharmacists was established to create a preintervention system for pharmacists by proposals and planning of prescriptions, rather than the conventional system of intervention after prescriptions have been established, in order to achieve appropriate and safe drug therapy in wards. Since April of 2015, pharmacists have been assigned to positions in all wards including the ICU, NICU and GCU in Hokkaido University Hospital.
Pharmacists perform duties as part of the medical team in various fields including palliative care, infection control, nutritional support and transplantation therapy.
In order for pharmacists to sufficiently provide their expertise, not only standardization and improved efficiency of central duties and expansion of ward duties but also coordination of central, ward and medical team duties are essential. The development of next-generation team medicine (hybrid system) is important. In our hospital, we are aiming to establish a next-generation model for team medicine with a focus on the following three keywords: 1) education (establishment of an education program for newly graduated pharmacists, 2) cooperation (cooperation between ward pharmacists and the medical team), and 3) information and communication technology (efforts to establish an ICT system).
Our goal is not to give priority to ward duties but to establish a system for coordination of ward and central pharmacy duties, leading to a paradigm shift from ward duties to clinical care service.
