Hospital pharmacy staff development programs in Ohio

Although staff development programs have been used to implement clinical services in Ohio hospital pharmacies, the majority of clinical services have been implemented without the use of staff development programs. The results of this study show that less than half of Ohio hospital pharmacy departments provide staff development programs. In those hospitals where the programs were provided, the average number of clinical services implemented through staff development was not significantly different from the average number implemented without these programs. Nor was there a significant difference in the average number of clinical services implemented through staff development between small hospitals (199 beds or less), medium hospitals (200 to 399 beds), and larger hospitals (400 or more beds); between government (city, county, or state) and private, nonprofit hospitals; and between hospitals whose staff development program coordinators were directors and hospitals whose coordinators were not directors. For the majority of departments that provided staff development programs, certification or testing of pharmacists was not required before providing clinical services. Results from the survey indicated that certification may not be necessary for all clinical services. Commitment to staff development programs in terms of management support and participation, awarding of continuing-education credit, and use in pharmacist performance evaluations was demonstrated by no more than 34 percent of all departments that responded. Financial commitment to these programs was low. Overall, since less than half of the departments reported providing staff development programs, the level of commitment to staff development appeared to be low.