A data base management system for the administration of hospital pharmacy personnel

A data base management system (System 2000) was utilized to develop a pharmacy personnel inventory that would allow the pharmacy and hospital administrators to quickly and easily obtain biographic and demographic information about employees in a large pharmacy department. The inventory provides personal information about each employee and administrative data such as previous employment and salary histories, benefits packages, and special skills. In addition, the personnel inventory provides other administrative functions including: 1) a tally of vacation or sick days accrued; 2) salary and merit increase information for pay evaluations; 3) a personnel telephone directory; 4) the immediate access to employee emergency contact information; 5) a tally of continuing education credits accrued by each pharmacist; 6) a list of languages, other than English, spoken by pharmacy personnel; 7) pharmacist licensure information; and 8) a list of the ethnic groups represented in the department for use in equal opportunity employment. Computer-prompted instructions allow use of the system by individuals with little or no computer background. Implementation of the system required less than 200 hours and maintenance costs have been relatively minimal. Recent advances in computer technology have made data base management systems similar to that described in this report, a realistic investment for the administrative needs of even the smaller hospital pharmacy.