The Emergency Pharmacist Research Center
This research is supported by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Partnerships in Patient Safety, Grant no. 1 U18 HS015818
Partners

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

This project is funded by AHRQ's Partnership in Implementing Patient Safety (PIPS) grant portfolio. The grant program was recently described in an AHRQ press release: "17 toolkits, developed by AHRQ-funded experts who specialize in patient safety research, are free, publicly available, and can be adapted to most health care settings. The toolkits range from checklists to help reconcile medications when patients are discharged from the hospital to processes to enhance effective communication among caregivers and with patients to toolkits to help patients taking medications."

For more information, visit [AHRQ PIPS Press Release]. To browse the available patient safety tools, visit [AHRQ PIPS Patient Safety Toolkits].

ASHP Research and Education Foundation  

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Research and Education Foundation is a 501(c)3 charitable organization affiliated with the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, the national professional society of pharmacists practicing in health systems.  The ASHP Foundation has been in existence for 36 years and currently conducts a range of formal education and research programs designed to foster the safe and effective use of medications. The ASHP Foundation’s strategic priorities are: 1. Design and study of safe and effective medication-use systems; 2. Advancement of optimal patient medication outcomes; and 3. Expansion of pharmacists' direct patient care and leadership roles. The ASHP Foundation’s programs support research and education in a variety of health-system settings such as hospitals, home care, ambulatory care, managed care organizations, and long-term care. [link to website]

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)

ASHP is the 30,000-member national professional association that represents pharmacists who practice in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, long-term care facilities, home care, and other components of health care systems. For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety.  ASHP, which has a long history of medication error prevention efforts, believes that the mission of pharmacists is to help people make the best use of medicines.  Assisting pharmacists in fulfilling this mission is ASHP's primary objective.  ASHP has extensive publishing and educational programs designed to help members improve their professional practice, and it is the national accrediting organization for pharmacy residency and pharmacy technician training programs. [link to website]

ASHP has supported emergency pharmacists in numerous ways, including:

1.  An Emergency Care Section Advisory Group (SAG) to guide ASHP's activities in the area of emergency care.

2.  An Emergency Pharmacist List Server - this service is currently open to the public.  To join, visit [this link].

3.  A policy document entitled "ASHP Statement on Pharmacy Services to the Emergency Department."  To read this document, visit [this link].

4.  The ASHP Research and Education Foundation's Director of Research and Program Development, Daniel J. Cobaugh, PharmD, FAACT, DABAT, is a member of the advisory board for this project, and has been a critical link to the national clinical pharmacist community. 

5.  ASHP and the ASHP Foundation recently collaborated with the University of Rochester, Johns Hopkins University, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to develop the ED Patient Care Impact Program.  Twenty pharmacists were selected, through a competitive application process, to participate in this program which provides consultative services for developing an ED pharmacist program.  More information can be found by visiting [this link].

6.  ASHP has presented numerous emergency care related programs at their national conferences, including the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in December 2007.  These included sessions on provision of pharmacy services in the ED.