Improving staff engagement and development using pharmacy professional advancement career tract program.

BACKGROUND: To describe the benefits of an employee engagement and development program and provide an outline on how it may be adapted by other health system pharmacies. PRACTICE INNOVATION: The pharmacy Professional Advancement Career Tract (PACT) program has been active for over 10 years. A concept borrowed from nursing; it has become the primary employee engagement program within the pharmacy department. The program attracts self-motivated staff to participate in activities that benefit departmental operations and enhance the participant's project management and professional skills. This has provided an opportunity for staff to demonstrate their abilities and potential for future growth. The resources needed to initiate and maintain the program are program liaisons at the site level, mentorship time, and moderate bonus payments. A vast majority of the projects were completed (including cost savings initiatives) and the beneficial outcomes gained from those outweighed the minimal cost. CONCLUSION: Development and implementation of the pharmacy PACT program was a success for both staff and the pharmacy department. This program may benefit other pharmacy departments across the nation.

Impact of a pharmacy resident on hospital length of stay and drug-related costs.

BACKGROUND: The impact of pharmacy residents' interventions on medical rounds has not been well evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of a resident's interventions on hospital length of stay, describe the types of interventions, and assess drug-related cost savings. METHODS: Using a matched control design, we conducted an evaluative study of adults admitted to a general internal medicine unit over one month. The study group consisted of patients admitted to the service of a medical team that included a pharmacy resident and medical residents. The pharmacy resident prospectively collected data on patient demographics and interventions made during patient admission and follow-up rounds. The control group consisted of patients admitted to the service of a team consisting of medical residents only, over the same period. The medical records of the control group were retrospectively evaluated for potential interventions. RESULTS: Forty patients were enrolled in each group (aged 63 +/- 17 y, mean +/- SD). In the study group, 250 of 271 interventions were accepted and fulfilled. In the control group, 321 potential interventions were identified. The mean length of stay of the study group was significantly lower than that of the control group (7.9 +/- 7.2 days vs 10.9 +/- 7.9 days, respectively; p = 0.008). In the study group and the control group, the total interventions were related to prescribing errors (51.3% vs 45.4%), preventable adverse drug events (32.9% vs 42.3%), patient monitoring (14% vs 7%), and drug interactions (1.8% vs 5.3%). In the study group, the net drug-related cost savings totaled $2087. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates the positive impact of a pharmacy resident on reducing the hospital length of stay and producing drug-related cost savings. Most interventions prevented adverse drug events and prescribing errors.