Pharmacy

The Department of Pharmacy at MedStar Washington Hospital Center provides pharmaceutical care in a culture that inspires innovation, trust and adaptability. It demonstrates leadership through education and promotion of health care literacy.  The department has 24-hour service and operates using a decentralized pharmacy model with teams of pharmacists and technicians in each area.

The pharmacy provides:

Drug Information Center: Pharmacists provide information to healthcare professionals as well as train and educate students and pharmacy residents.  The center has a library with the latest medical and pharmaceutical journals and access to a wide range of electronic drug information resources.

Pharmaceutical care:  Teams of pharmacists provide pharmaceutical support to patients by collecting and organizing patient-specific information, identifying specific healthcare needs and pharmacotherapeutic goals, designing regimens and monitoring plans to achieve desired outcomes.  There is close collaboration with physicians and other health care providers individually. Pharmacists use the latest technology for real-time evaluation of medication orders, to record patient information and to document clinical interventions. 

Pharmacists are actively involved in:

• Rounding with medical teams
• Drug therapy monitoring
• Consultation
• Patient safety initiatives
• Patient education
• Medication use evaluations
• Medication occurrence reporting
• Healthcare team education
• Drug information services
• Precepting students and residents
• Performance improvement projects

Distributive services: Point-of care technology and centralized medication distributive systems allow pharmacists to maximize their time in pharmaceutical care and education.  Pharmacy technicians support pharmacists in providing distributive services to patient care areas. Systems analysts work on designing and maintaining information for the department’s clinical and distributive operations.

Education and training: The Pharmacy Residency Program has trained residents since 1995. Pharmacy students gain experiential experience under the guidance of preceptors. Each preceptor is an assistant professor at the local college of pharmacy.
This program is accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

The department provides educational programs that are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).  Pharmacists have the opportunity to attend these programs on site and receive credits that can be used for licensure renewal.
 
Investigational Drug Service:  This service works in close collaboration with MedStar Health Research Institute and is responsible for administering over thirty investigational drug protocols.  Researchers from the National Institutes of Health conduct studies on investigational drugs at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.