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
Resources

 

Three slide presentations now available to assist hospitals, pharmacists, and emergency departments in their efforts to describe, justify, and implement new Emergency Pharmacist programs. These tools are a direct result of efforts funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and are available for download. They may be modified and used for any purpose.

  1. Part 1: Justification. This slideset provides a review of the literature that helps justify the need for an emergency pharmacist program. Download: [PowerPoint] [PDF]

    1A.  Download an example of how this resource was modified by staff at Sarasota Memorial Hospital (FL) and used as a presentation to hospital leadership. This presentation resulted in approval for 2 FTEs to initiate the Emergency Pharmacist Program, which was started in the fall of 2007. Emergency Pharmacist Michelle Malatlian participated in the 2007 ASHP Patient Care Impact Program sponsored by ASHP.

    1B. Attestation to the value of the Emergency Pharmacist Role: Study finds that emergency physicians and nurses highly value the role of an Emergency Pharmacist and feel they improve medication safety and quality of care (published in in the Emergency Medicine Journal, October 2007). link to abstract (or, email us  for a reprint).   Extra! Download related quotes from staff [quotes--pdf]

    1C. Local newspaper article features the emergency physician and nursing reaction to the role of an emergency pharmacist, and discusses cost savings and other advantages. [download pdf 106 kb]

    1D. A three-page summary of the justification for the role of a clinical pharmacist in the emergency department (45 references). [Download PDF]

     

  2. Part 2: Role of the EPh. This slideset describes the details of the typical role of the clinical pharmacist in the ED. Download: [PowerPoint]  [PDF]

    2A. A sample job description which can be adapted for use as a resource for new programs. [MSWord]  [pdf]

    2B. A sample list of job qualifications for the EPh which can be adapted for use in job postings. [MSWord]  [pdf]

    2C. AHRQ Conference presentation: "The Optimized Emergency Pharmacist Role" - [Download Presentation] [Download Abstract]

    2D. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy article describing the Emergency Pharmacist pilot program - Download PDF

     

  3. Part 3: Implementation. This slideset describes some of the challenges, barriers, and solutions that can be experienced during the successful implementation of an emergency pharmacist program. Download: [PowerPoint]  [PDF]

    3A. Our Lead Emergency Pharmacist, Daniel Hays, Pharm D, presented a talk at ASHP on 12/5/07 entitled "Implementation of an Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Residency."  Download his talk by clicking here [608kb pdf]

    3B. A presentation by our lead pharmacist Dr. Hays describing the Emergency Pharmacist program, given at the AHRQ Annual Meeting, Bethesda, MD: September 27, 2007 [1mb pdf]

    3C. Presentation at the ASHP 2007 Summer Meeting in San Francisco on June 25 by Dr. Hays and Dr. Fairbanks: "Tools for Developing an Emergency Pharmacist Program and Measuring its Effectiveness."  [Download Fairbanks presentation]   [Download Hays Presentation]

Download the recently released ASHP Position Statement on the use of pharmacists in the ED from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists: click here [ASHP Statement on Pharmacy Services to the Emergency Department(pdf)].

 

Research Results

 

new! A manuscript describing the penetration of clinical pharmacy services in academic emergency departments has been published in in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (March 2009). link to abstract (access required for pdf-- email Dr. Fairbanks for a reprint).

 

Researching the use of Emergency Pharmacists in the ED.  Presented at the AHRQ Annual Conference 2008, Bethesda, MD:  September 8, 2008 [PDF (240kb)]

 

A summary of all results from our project was given at the ASHP Mid-Year Clinical Meeting 2007 in Las Vegas on Wednesday, December 5 as part of a session "Current Clinical Practice in Emergency Pharmacy" Download the talk from the by clicking here [330kb pdf].  

 

A manuscript describing ED staff perceptions of the Emergency Pharmacist role has been published in in the Emergency Medicine Journal (2007). link to abstract (access required for pdf-- email Dr. Fairbanks for a reprint).    related quotes from staff [pdf]  

 

A manuscript describing a study which examined how prescribing practice in the ED can be influenced by local placement of medications has been published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. The study is authored by Gregory Conners and our lead pharmacist Daniel Hays, both faculty members at the University of Rochester. link to abstract

 

Results from the Audience Responses during the ASHP Summer Meeting session in San Francisco: "Tools for developing an emergency pharmacist program and measuring its effectiveness," held on Monday, June 25th 2pm-5pm.  [download results-- 1.5MB pdf]

 

Two abstracts presented at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2007 Annual Meeting and published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

            1. Use of Clinical Pharmacists in Academic EDs is Limited - Download Abstract [pdf]

            2. Medical and Nursing Staff Highly Value Clinical Pharmacists in the ED - Download Abstract [pdf]

Benefits of the Emergency Pharmacist in trauma resuscitations: Preliminary results.

 

American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy article describing the Emergency Pharmacist pilot program - Download PDF

 

 

News

 

All of our program's research results and experience have been integrated into the ASHP "Patient Care Impact Program," a 6-month mentorship program sponsored by ASHP to help institutions start new Emergency Pharmacist programs. The program kicked off in 2007, was repeated in 2008, and we're pleased to report that a 2009 program has just begun. Click [here] to download the list of mentors and participants from the first year of the program in 2007. You can find more information on the [2009 PCIP Website].

 

What Other Programs Are Doing

Australia has an active group of Emergency Pharmacist Researchers.  View List of Emergency Pharmacist Publications in the Australian Literature [link to updated pdf]; supplied by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia's Emergency Medicine Committee [link to contact information] Note: many of the articles referenced can be downloaded from the National Library of Australia.

Advocate Christ Medical Center (Oak Lawn, Illinois) Department of Emergency Medicine presented a solutions poster describing their Emergency Pharmacist program at the 2007 National Patient Safety Congress in Washington DC. A copy of the poster presentation (Sweis and Reingold) is available.  [download pdf]

Emergency Pharmacist program at the Medical Center of Aurora,Colorado
http://www.ashpadvantage.com/bestpractices/2003_papers/barker.htm

Recent ACEP news article on ED-based pharmacists or [download pdf]

Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University Emergency Pharmacist Program.

A new member joins the Emergency Room - View newspaper article from the UK

Please email us if you know of a program or activity to be added.

Recent Presentations

 

A summary of all results from our project was given at the ASHP Mid-Year Clinical Meeting 2007 in Las Vegas on Wednesday, December 5 as part of a session "Current Clinical Practice in Emergency Pharmacy" Download the talk from the by clicking here [330kb pdf].  

Expanding Roles: Pharmacy Services in the Emergency Department - Download Program Description
American Society for Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting, December 6, 2006, Anaheim, California.
http://www.ashp.org/meetings/midyear

    1. Pharmacy Presence in Emergency Medicine. [Download Presentation] Daniel P. Hays, Pharm.D., BCPS

    2. Designing Studies to Evaluate Safe and Effective Medication Use in the ED. [Download Presentation] Rollin (Terry) J. Fairbanks, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

    3. Pharmacists as a Means of Cost Containment in the Emergency Department. [Download Presentation] Alison M. Jennett, Pharm.D., Clinical Pharmacist - Specialist, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit

    4. Administrative Implementation of Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Practice. [Download Presentation] Rita R. Shane, Pharm.D., FASHP, Director, Pharmacy Services, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Relevant References

Click here to View Relevant Literature

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Note: This project was funded under grant number 1U18HS015818 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The opinions expressed in this Patient Safety Toolkit are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of AHRQ,the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or the University of Rochester Medical Center.