Creating the optimal nursing-pharmacy interface: a strategic plan for the pharmacy manager

These strategies certainly do not represent an exhaustive list of the possibilities. They cover some of the major issues and reflect observed elements that exist in institutions that enjoy frequent positive interactions at the pharmacy-nursing interface. Anecdotal observations and comments confirm that in such institutions there exists greater efficiency in the drug-use process, greater job satisfaction, and better patient care than in those institutions where there are strained relationships at the pharmacy-nursing interface. The remaining articles in this issue provide specific examples to document these benefits. The pharmacy manager who makes a concerted, proactive effort to use some of the information in this article and the others to establish a positive, highly interactive pharmacy-nursing interface will experience these same rewards. Progress may occur more slowly in some institutions due to long-standing difficulties. Pharmacy initiatives may be viewed with skepticism. In these situations, actions speak much louder than words; demonstrate change (e.g., decentralization) on a pilot basis without additional resources to generate a groundswell of acceptance at the grassroots level. This will in turn contribute to a much more serious consideration of any proposal that does include increased resources or reallocation of resources (from nursing to pharmacy). No matter how difficult or frustrating it might be to implement these strategies, the potential results are worthy of the efforts.