Biomedical subjects

R J Hoolihan

Publications and source records attributed to R J Hoolihan.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Pharmacist interventions in a decentralized unit dose system.

In our hospital, the decentralized pharmacists, on a daily basis, are documenting their cost-saving and therapeutic interventions. The cost savings for the first six months in 1991 totaled $45,862. The therapeutic interventions for these six months totaled 2,087. These interventions have a direct impact on the quality of patient care, while at the same time providing input into economics of patient care. The pharmacist interventions at our hospital can be documented and measured, and they do have an impact on physician prescribing habits.

Centralized Hospital Services↗

PubMed1991

Documentation of pharmacist interventions in a decentralized unit dose system.

The purpose of this study was to justify the increased costs of providing decentralized pharmacy service by defining therapeutic interventions as they relate to improved patient care and by documenting cost savings generated by decentralized pharmacist interventions. Data were collected on a daily basis from information provided by the decentralized pharmacists using a daily worksheet. The various interventions were then categorized as cost-saving interventions and therapeutic interventions. Decentralized pharmacist interventions do provide important therapeutic interventions as well as cost-effective interventions. The total cost-saving interventions in 1989 was $126,509 and this included the automatic drug conversions. The pharmacists also provided 2506 therapeutic interventions.

Centralized Hospital Services↗

PubMed1987

Strategies for reducing i.v. drug waste and coping with increased workload.

The amount of i.v. drugs wasted in our centralized i.v. admixture program was initially identified as a problem in 1982. The i.v. drug waste in 1982 was approximately $72,000, which represented 8.8% of the total i.v. drug budget. The i.v. admixture workload had also increased 35% from 1980 to 1982. The pharmacy department decided to approach the i.v. drug waste and increased workload problem by purchasing premixed i.v. solutions. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether premixed i.v. solutions are cost effective by decreasing both drug waste and i.v. preparation time. In addition, pharmacy standardized the doses of various i.v. drugs and instituted an on-call card system for the ordering of selected drug by nursing. By using the above methods, the pharmacy department was able to absorb an additional 37% increase in workload from 196,418 units in 1982 to 269,176 units in 1985. Also, pharmacy was able to reduce the i.v. drug waste from 8.8% of the i.v. budget in 1982, to 2.35% of the 1985 i.v. budget. Both of these goals was achieved without additional staff.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗