Quality Management System for Clinical Pharmacy Services

Quality systems improve the quality and consistency of the practice of health care professionals, leading to increased patient safety, rational care and reduced costs. Hospitals worldwide are becoming more aware of the importance of implementation of quality systems to standardise health care processes. The introduction of quality systems in health care is occurring at a relatively slow pace in European countries compared to the USA, especially with respect to clinical pharmacy services. During this research, standards to match current clinical pharmacy service provision and also to guide evolution of new services in a geriatric and rehabilitation hospital were developed, validated, implemented and evaluated. Whilst being easy and practical to adopt, the quality system implemented provides a comprehensive approach to clinical pharmacy services which can be adapted to any hospital setting.