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"Award for Innovation in Pharmacy Practice" awarded for After-Hours Pharmacy Coverage Project

Timothy P. Stratton, Ph.D., BCPS, has been named the recipient of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Research and Education Foundation's 2009 Award for Innovation in Pharmacy Practice. The award is one of five that are awarded annually as part of the ASHP Foundation's Literature Awards Program. The awardees were formally recognized during the 2009 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in December in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Literature Awards Program honors important contributions to the literature of pharmacy practice in hospitals and health systems. All Literature Award recipients exemplify excellence in research and writing that foster improvements in the medication-use process, pioneer new uses of technology and pharmacy personnel and promote the pharmacist's role in patient care.

Dr. Stratton is a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. His winning article, "Implementing After-Hours Pharmacy Coverage for Critical Access Hospitals in Northeast Minnesota," was co-authored with Marcia M. Worley, B.S.Pharm., Ph.D., Mark Schmidt, B.S., and Michael Dudzik, B.S.Pharm., M.H.A. The article was published in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (Am J Health-Syst Pharm 2008; 65:1727-34).

Research has shown that medications are used more safely in hospitals if a pharmacist reviews the doctor's order before the medication is given to the patient. But what happens at a rural hospital if a new medication order is written at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night when the pharmacist is not on duty? Stratton and his coworkers evaluated the impact of faxing after-hours orders from eight small rural hospitals to a large urban hospital where a pharmacist was on duty around-the-clock. The urban hospital pharmacist downloaded the patient's electronic medical record from the rural hospital via the Internet and reviewed each new medication order to ensure that the medication was appropriate considering the patient's age, other medications and other medical conditions. After review, the urban hospital pharmacist released the medication through an automated dispensing cabinet at the rural hospital. Stratton and his team found that such a system improved patient safety, as well as nursing and pharmacist satisfaction with the quality of patient care provided.

Dr. Stratton and his team hope that the description of their system will be helpful to others engaged in rural hospital pharmacy practice. "Professionally, I am very pleased that this award recognizes an article that highlights the needs of pharmacists who practice in geographically isolated rural hospitals," he said.

The Literature Awards Program, which was established in 1970, has recognized more than 400 practitioners for their significant contributions to the literature of pharmacy practice. For more information regarding this award, please visit their Web site at www.ashpfoundation.org/litawards.