The Hereford Hospital Prescribing Study. The function of a clinical pharmacist on the medical wards of a district general hospital.

Abstract

The role of a clinical pharmacist is outlined as interviewing patients on admission, monitoring of 'at risk' patients and drugs, and counselling on discharge. These functions were assessed on a 118 bed medical unit to try to quantify the potential workload and staff requirements needed to achieve it. It is suggested that the establishment of pharmacists for ward pharmacy services may need to be increased two-fold to accomplish the outlined role, and that a 24-hour service would be needed to cover some duties. However, before such a level of staffing can be achieved, the positive benefits of clinical pharmacy must be demonstrated.