Department of Pharmaceutical and Nutrition Care

Vision

We will make The Nebraska Medical Center the safest and best place for patients to receive medication and nutrition therapy and create pharmaceutical and nutrition practices that become the standard for health care institutions, everywhere.

Philosophy

Our practitioners will be an integral part of the healthcare team, actively involved in direct patient care and leading to healthier patients who spend less time in the hospital. Physicians will view us as trusted colleagues in patient care, advisors of the first resort in the selection of the safest, most appropriate and cost effective medication and nutrition regimens for patients, proactively leveraging our clinical, decision support, resource expertise and commitment to the care and safety of our patients. The department will take the lead in decreasing errors and adverse events related to medication and nutrition therapy use by identifying and promoting best practices and adopting technology with a proven track record for reducing adverse events and improving outcomes. The department will leverage its practice model focused around proactive involvement in all patient care environments to attain a leadership position in patient care safety and quality outcomes. We will become sought after as THE PLACE TO PRACTICE.

Mission

The Department of Pharmaceutical and Nutrition Care is dedicated to excellence and innovation in compassionate, quality pharmaceutical and nutrition care through multidisciplinary service, education and research. The department fulfills its mission to provide pharmaceutical care and supports the role and mission of The Nebraska Medical Center by:

• Ensuring patient safety and desired outcomes with the use of medications and enteral/parenteral nutrition products
• Facilitating exchange of drug and nutrition-related information between healthcare disciplines and patients
• Serving as advocates for the patient in avoiding nutrition and drug-related problems
• Pursuing innovative approaches to improve outcomes of pharmaceutical and nutritional therapy
• Supporting each other and contributing to the success of the department
• Striving to continuously improve our services
• Responding to customer needs in a sensitive and caring manner
• Creating an environment which encourages learning and innovation by students, residents, faculty and staff
• Facilitating the transitions between levels of care
• Conserving available resources
• Assuring compliance with all applicable state and federal regulations

Scope of Service

The scope of Pharmaceutical & Nutrition Care includes the purchasing, storage, manufacturing, compounding, packaging, distribution and control of drugs and enteral nutrition products and maintenance of approved drug and enteral nutrition formularies. Clinical services provided include nutrition assessment, therapy and education, drug therapy monitoring and consultation, drug information, drug use evaluation, adverse drug reaction reporting and investigational drug monitoring and control. We will provide these services in all environments of care.

Values

In formulating strategies to attain its missions, the department places the highest value in:

• Processes and services that assure medication and nutritional care safety and the best possible patient outcomes
• Expert scientifically based drug and nutrition information and service in support of innovative, quality patient care
• Innovation in patient care service and applications of technology to support effective, accurate service programs that anticipate the needs of customers
• Interdisciplinary and collaborative practice
• Honesty and integrity in our interactions with patients and other disciplines
• The contribution of individuals
• An environment that fosters trust, teamwork, professional growth and open communication within the department and with other disciplines
• Life-long learning, teaching, research and application of evidence based practice

Strategies

Our department will pursue the following strategies to:

• Implement a closed loop medication use process to assure medication safety by:
  • acquiring technology to implement bedside verification for medication administration;
  • acquiring technology to permit machine readable labeling of all medications;
  • enhancing existing medication cabinet technology; and
  • acquiring technology to automate medication conveyance to patient care units.
• Leverage the acquisition of technology to enhance the ability of our pharmacy and nutrition practice models to:
  • improve outcomes of medication and nutrition therapy;
  • increase opportunities for pharmacist and nutritionists to act as consultants in the therapeutic decision making process;
  • enhance the role of pharmacists and nutritionists as members of the healthcare team; and
  • assure effectiveness of pharmacists and nutritionists in implementing formulary strategies.
• Strengthen our decision support services to provide more trend and outcomes data as tools for pharmacists and nutritionists to influence utilization patterns and increase knowledge dissemination by:
  • acquiring improved tools for decision support and trend analysis;
  • implementing bedside verification applications to accrue utilization data on a real-time basis; and
  • giving pharmacists and nutritionists evidence-based data to counter detail physicians with hospital-specific patient outcomes.
• Create an environment supportive of creativity and change by:
  • promoting and utilizing a multidisciplinary approach to implement and maintain our closed loop medication process;
  • exploring and implementing staff-driven strategies to enhance our professional practice;
  • identifying opportunities to expand the horizons and expose our staff to tools and strategies for individual, team and department use; and
  • establishing opportunities for professional growth and development for our professionals.
• Leverage our relationship with the College of Pharmacy to increase opportunities for involvement in education and research for our department:
  • gain national recognition of innovative practices via publication of joint project activities;
  • identify strategies to engage faculty in clinical service and operations in a meaningful manner;
  • partner in a cooperative manner with respect to onsite teaching of students and residents;
  • gain input with respect to planning future operations and strategically placing pharmacy presence in key programs/initiatives; and
  • identifying opportunities for expansion in educational offerings on student, resident and fellowship levels

Broadly, our goal is to establish the finest pharmacy and medical nutrition therapy programs in the nation. Our programs will place us on the cutting edge, not just by virtue of the technology we employ, but also by the impact we have on the outcomes of drug and nutrition therapy and the effectiveness of our management of drug and nutrition therapy resources. We are committed to remaining open to innovation and non-traditional ways of providing patient service. Our ultimate commitment is to utilize our knowledge and systems to the continuous improvement of patient service.