Best Practices for Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy 2012-2013

Book excerpt: ASHP position statements and more than 70 guidance documents of varying scope provide ongoing advice to managers and practitioners to help improve the medication-use process, patient care and safety, and patient outcomes and quality of life. New material in this edition includes a revised minimum standard for pharmacies in hospitals; statements on the pharmacist's role in medication reconciliation, the role of the medication safety leader, and pharmacy professionals use of social media; and therapeutic recommendations regarding institutional use of 0.9% sodium chloride injection to maintain the patency of peripheral indwelling intermittent infusion devices and the role of pharmacotherapy in the prevention of venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients.