Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committees: Leadership Opportunities in Medication Safety for Medical Toxicologists

Abstract

Few residencies or fellowships provide preparation for the many committee responsibilities facing clinicians in an academic or community hospital. This is unfortunate as these assignments are often rich with educational experiences for trainees and young faculty. Although committee work can be time consuming, some of these hospital committees can be very influential in critical decisions about hospital philosophy. Many of these committees are mandatory infrastructural requirements for hospital accreditation by the Joint Commission, and the medical center leadership can view participation favorably. One committee that integrates squarely into the specialty of medical toxicology is the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committee, sometimes aptly named the Formulary Committee. Charged with determining the hospital formulary, decisions are made about the inclusion or exclusion of new pharmacotherapeutic and diagnostic agents for inpatients and outpatients. This committee is typically composed of a multidisciplinary team of pharmacy, physician, nursing, and hospital clinical and administrative leadership. As the tasks and responsibilities of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee evolve and increase, more opportunities are created for individual involvement [1, 2]. A survey of the ACMT membership in 2007 revealed that 46% of its medical toxicologists participated in their P&T committee and 14% were chair [ACMT Unpublished data]. In our experience, the unique and relevant perspective of a medical toxicologist has proven to be a welcome, mutually beneficial addition to this committee.