Page 256 - Registrar Orientation Manual 2016

Pharmacy Services and Prescribing Information
Hospital Pharmacists
Most wards at Waikato, Thames and Tokoroa Hospitals have a pharmacist working with the multidisciplinary ward team. The pharmacist provides a "safety-net" for prescribers by reviewing the medication charts as well as providing medicines and prescribing information. Pharmacists are also available to provide education to the medical and nursing staff and patients.
Compliance with legal requirements and DHB policies, appropriateness of dose and drug selection is the responsibility of the prescriber, but where a pharmacist is assigned to a ward or a team they will also review prescribing for compliance with legal requirements, DHB policies, as well as reviewing doses and combinations of medications prescribed for appropriateness, interactions and safety.
Pharmacists usually use a green pen when writing in the clinical notes, or clarifying and annotating inpatient charts.
Pharmacy provides a medicines information service (ext. 96997). Most queries can be answered relatively quickly; however others may need time to allow some research. Pharmacists will usually need to take details of the question and phone or email you back with the information.
Specialist pharmacists are usually available for more complex/specialised clinical areas such as oncology, renal, cardiovascular, ICU/HDU, paediatrics and clinical trials. A liaison pharmacist is available to assist with discharge problems and provide a service for community pharmacists to refer queries to (ext 23767).
Waikato Hospital Pharmacy
1. Open from 8:00 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday. On Saturday the pharmacy is open from 08:30 to 1300 hours, although staff are often available on-site for longer. Public holiday opening hours vary and are advertised prior to the day.
2. An on call pharmacist is available any time the pharmacy is closed.
3. Medicines are supplied to in-patients only. Discharge prescriptions must be dispensed by community pharmacies unless they have been approved (on a case by case basis) for dispensing from the hospital pharmacy. Refer to your ward pharmacist if in doubt.
4. Medicines regularly required by a ward will be kept as ward stock – known as imprest. To locate where in the hospital a medicine may be stored go to the Pharmacy page via the intranet search field and open the file “e-Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Imprest Location Enquiry”. Pharmacy will dispense on an individual patient basis those medications that are not usually stocked by a ward.