Pharmaceutical services in rural hospitals in Illinois--1991

The results of a 1991 survey of pharmaceutical services in rural hospitals in Illinois are reported and compared with the results of previously published national and regional surveys. A questionnaire was developed and mailed to the director of pharmacy at each hospital in the study population (n = 95 rural hospitals in Illinois) to obtain information about inpatient drug distribution services, ambulatory-care services, clinical services, and human resources. The response rate was 81% (77 usable responses). Respondents reported a mean hospital size of 115.5 licensed beds. The mean average daily census was 51.2. Drug distribution systems appear similar to those reported in the 1990 ASHP survey, with complete unit dose drug distribution systems existing in 90.1% of respondent rural Illinois hospitals and complete and comprehensive i.v. admixture services in 71.2%. The percentage of pharmacy departments that are decentralized is lower among rural Illinois hospitals than among previous survey populations. Respondents indicated that they provided the following clinical pharmacy services: drug therapy monitoring (73%), patient rounds (12.2%), nutritional support (37.8%), pharmacokinetic consultations (32.4%), and patient education and counseling (24.3%). These results are comparable to those reported in previous surveys. Respondents reported an average of 5.9 full-time equivalents per hospital pharmacy department. The pharmacist vacancy rate and the total vacancy rate per department were reported as 10% and 5.3%, respectively, with vacant positions taking an average of 15 months to fill. The pharmacist vacancy rate is markedly higher than that reported in the 1990 ASHP survey. Rural Illinois hospitals are comparable to other U.S. hospitals in the provision of most pharmaceutical services.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)