Contractual relationships between colleges of pharmacy and university hospitals

The relationships that exist between colleges of pharmacy and university hospitals located in academic medical centers were investigated, and the types of pharmaceutical services that are being offered by these institutions were profiled. Questionnaires were mailed to 35 directors of pharmaceutical services located in academic medical centers. Of the 30 institutions represented by respondents, 27 had a college of pharmacy on the same campus, and 13 had a formal agreement between the hospital and the college. Ninety-seven percent of the hospitals surveyed had unit-dose or partial unit-dose programs, and all of the hospitals had i.v. admixture services. Nine of the 13 hospitals with formal agreements and 13 of the 17 hospitals without formal agreements had decentralized pharmaceutical services. The staffing patterns in these institutions showed that only 10.3% of the pharmacist FTE positions were funded by the college of pharmacy. There was no difference in trends as related to faculty appointment, title, or tenure between directors in hospitals with and without affiliation agreements. Seven of the directors of pharmacy were in tenure-track positions, and the director's reporting mechanism in the college was either to the dean or the chairman of pharmacy practice. No differences were found between the pharmaceutical services offered, staffing patterns, or status of the director of pharmacy in hospitals with or without formal agreements with colleges of pharmacy. These authors believe that a firm relationship between the college and hospital might prove advantageous to both parties.