Hospital pharmacy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A hospital pharmacy is concerned with pharmacy service to all types of hospital and differs considerably from a community pharmacy.
Some pharmacists in hospital pharmacies may have more complex clinical medication management issues whereas pharmacists in community pharmacies often have more complex business and customer relations issues. Because of the complexity of the medication use system, many pharmacists practicing in hospitals gain more education and training after pharmacy school through a pharmacy practice residency and sometimes followed by another residency in a specific area.
Hospital pharmacies can usually be found within the premises of the hospital. Hospital pharmacies usually stock a larger range of medications, including more specialized and unlicensed medications, than would be feasible in the community setting.
[edit] Sterile production
Hospital pharmacists and trained pharmacy technicians compound sterile products for patients including total parenteral nutrition (TPN), and other medications given intravenously e.g neonatal antibiotics and chemotherapy. This is a complex process that requires adequate training of personnel, quality assurance of products, and adequate facilities. Some hospital pharmacies have decided to outsource high risk preparations and some other compounding functions to companies who specialize in compounding.
