Acute care pharmacy practices

The long and close relationship between the department’s faculty pharmacists and UCSF Medical Center pharmacists is seen throughout UCSF’s acute care hospitals.

• At nursing stations, department and medical center pharmacist specialists consult about patient cases and develop treatment plans with physicians and nurses.
• At the bedside, they review the effectiveness of medication therapies.
• In the hospitals’ pharmacies, general practice medical center pharmacists work to ensure the right medication reaches the right patient at the right time.
• The Infectious Diseases Management Program at UCSF, which provides round-the-clock specialized consultation to UCSF Medical Center hospital health care providers on the best use of antimicrobials, was developed as a partnership between the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and the UCSF Medical Center’s Department of Pharmaceutical Services.
• In the Discharge Follow-up Call Program patients with medication-related problems are triaged to faculty pharmacists.
• Both the chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and the director of the UCSF Medical Center’s Department of Pharmaceutical Services hold administrative appointments in each other’s departments.
• In addition to providing direct care for patients, specialized faculty pharmacists who practice in the UCSF Medical Center serve on key committees, including the Medication Safety and Pharmacy and Therapeutics committees.

Specific Department of Clinical Pharmacy units provide UCSF Medical Center with key services, such as:

• Medication Outcomes Center (MOC)—performs research toward the safe, effective use of medications at UCSF Medical Center and beyond