Patterns of hospital pharmacy services in Victoria, Australia - Part 1. The pharmacists' perspective

As part of a wide ranging survey of customer service in Victorian hospital pharmacies in Australia, pharmacists were surveyed to determine their perceptions of hospital pharmacy services, and what services they think should be provided. This paper develops a perceptual baseline of hospital pharmacy services and identifies the important services from a pharmacist's persepctive. The sample included city and country hospitals, large and small. The response rate was 63.7% (211 respondents). Eighteen services were identified as fundamental to hospital pharmacists. Of these, the top six were: discharge medication counselling, patient information and education, adverse drug reaction monitoring, intervention in or monitoring drug therapy, drug information and pharmacy purchasing. Most pharmacists regard the majority of services they provide as important. They also see themselves as having a clinical role.