Expansion of inpatient clinical pharmacy services through reallocation of pharmacists.

Purpose: The redesign of an inpatient pharmacy practice model through reallocation of pharmacy resources in order to expand clinical services is described.

Methods: A pharmacy practice model change was implemented at a nonprofit academic medical center to meet the increasing demand for direct patient care services. In order to accomplish this change, the following steps were completed: reevaluation of daily tasks and responsibilities, reallocation of remaining tasks to the most appropriate pharmacy staff member, determination of the ideal number of positions needed to complete each task, and reorganization of the model into a collection of teams.

Inhaled epoprostenol therapy for pulmonary hypertension: Improves oxygenation index more consistently in neonates than in older children.

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of inhaled epoprostenol for treatment of acute pulmonary hypertension (PH) in pediatric patients and to formulate a plan for a prospective, randomized study of pulmonary vasodilator therapy in this population. Inhaled epoprostenol is an effective treatment for pediatric PH. A retrospective chart review was conducted of all pediatric patients who received inhaled epoprostenol at a tertiary care hospital between October 2005 and August 2007.