Organization and operation of P & T Committees in the state of Florida: a survey

To determine the structure and function of P & T Committees in Florida, a survey was initiated. Questionnaires were mailed to all 289 hospitals in the state. Topics addressed included hospital demographics (type of service provided, institution ownership, hospital size), P & T Committee structure (size of the committee, membership breakdown by specialty, chairman specialty, number of meetings per year), formulary additions (personnel authorized to request drug additions, process for adding drugs to the formulary, monitoring new drug use), and formulary systems (prevalence of therapeutic interchange programs, methods of communicating formulary changes). Overall survey response rate was 71.5%. In general, P & T Committees in Florida appear to be functioning at a relatively high level. Since there is little current information about the composition and operation of P & T Committees in hospitals around the country, it is hoped that this survey will be useful to P & T Committees that wish to upgrade or expand their activities.