HUMC - Pharmacy

What we do

Pharmacy What We Do

The Pharmacy Department provides a full spectrum of pharmaceutical services that support optimal patient outcomes at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Medication Dispensing & Distribution
Clinical Services
Medication Safety
Drug Formulary
Pharmaceutical Research
Patient and Staff Education
Medication Dispensing & Distribution
The Pharmacy Department is responsible for dispensing and distributing medications to nearly 700 inpatients each day, as well as to hundreds more who undergo outpatient procedures. Getting medications to patients in the right dose at the right time requires meticulous operational planning and automated technology.

Multiple Points of Distribution

Aside from the main pharmacy’s central distribution area, there are several satellite work areas throughout the medical center. These strategically placed locations provide point of service access for quicker processing and delivery to clinical areas.

Urgently needed drugs are delivered through a pneumatic tube.

Satellite locations include: 4 Pavilion East, 9 Pavilion East, 3 Link, 4 Strawbridge and the Hackensack University Medical Plaza. The medical center also is equipped with pneumatic tubes that are used to quickly deliver medications to clinical units.

Unit Dose Drug Dispensing

Unit dose packaging ensures identification of the drug throughout the dispensing process.
Unit dose drug dispensing is a technology that distributes all medications to the clinical unit in individual packages that identify its name and dose.

This type of packaging is a safeguard that ensures identification of the drug up to the moment it is administered to the patient. Unit-dose packaging is a major safety measure that helps to reduce drug distribution errors.

IV Additives
Pharmacists at the medical center prepare IV additives in a sterile field using advanced techology, such as laminar flow hoods. This type of sterile technique is required for the preparation of certain IV mixtures, including chemotherapy medications for cancer treatments and hyperalimentation solutions for the administration of nutrition via an intravenous tube.

Advanced Technology & Equipment
The pharmacists and pharmacy technicians of the medical center work with advanced dispensing technology to provide and distribute medications.

Computerized Patient Profiles: The pharmacy’s computer system keeps track of each patient’s medications and facilitates the pharmacist’s evaluation of the clinical appropriateness of a prescribed drug regimen.

Pharmacists enter prescription orders into each patient's computerized profile.

A safety measure that is built into the system provides an alert message to the pharmacist whenever the possibility of a contraindication exists. The pharmacist can then take the appropriate action to prevent an adverse event — before the medication arrives at the patient’s bedside.

Robotics: The medical center employs a computerized robotic system that stocks medication carts for each clinical unit based on patient-specific drug regimens. The system applies bar code verification and automation to medications dispensed through the robotic system, which facilitates the filling of a personalized drawer for each patient.

A robotic arm selects drug packets that will stock a nursing unit's medication cart.

Once the pharmacist enters the prescribing information for each patient, the software program processes and compiles all of the data. This information is then used to guide the robotic arm as it moves from bin to bin to retrieve individual doses, placing them into each patient's medication drawer. The filled drawers are transported on medication carts to the appropriate clinical patient care unit, where they are dispensed according to the patient's prescribed treatment plan.

This robotic dispensing system, which is located in the main pharmacy, automates the process of filling carts for each clinical unit and increases patient safety by reducing the risk of medication errors.

Laminar Flow Hoods: Intravenous (IV) and chemotherapy solutions are prepared under laminar flow hoods that protect the solutions from contamination. These worktables provide an enclosed sterile environment, which ensures that the solutions are exposed only to filtered, particle-free air.

A laminar flow hood provides a sterile environment for the preparation of IV and chemotherapy solutions.

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Clinical Services
As vital members of the healthcare team, hospital pharmacists directly impact patient care and clinical outcomes. They collaborate with physicians and nurses to assess medications, develop treatment plans, dispense drugs appropriately, monitor their effectiveness, and provide education whenever needed. Pharmacists are also skilled in advanced automated technology systems that are used for institutional dispensing and distribution. They also maintain optimal medication safety standards and practices.

The pharmacists of Hackensack University Medical Center are highly skilled professionals, and many have become well-respected educators in their field. (To read more about these educators, see Preceptors for the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program.)
Pharmacists with advanced training are called clinician pharmacists, and they provide direct patient care as part of a fully integrated healthcare team. They collaborate with physicians and other healthcare providers to:

review and assess a patient’s prescribed medication regimen to assure an optimal outcome to the drug therapy.
confer with the physician to modify prescription orders, when necessary, so that the most appropriate medication for the situation is selected.
monitor the effectiveness and/or toxicity of prescribed medications and screen for medication-related problems, such as inappropriate dosing, drug allergies, and adverse drug events and interactions. Physicians are informed of potential problems.
monitor antibiotic therapy to consistently check the blood level for toxicity and provide pharmacokinetic dosing for selected antibiotics.
educate other members of the healthcare team to be certain that those who administer medication to the patient know how to do so safely.
educate the patient about their medications during the hospital stay and/or upon discharge.

Clinician pharmacists at Hackensack University Medical Center specialize in the following areas of care:

Antibiotic Monitoring
Internal Medicine / Pharmacokinetic Dosing
Nutrition Support

(also called Hyperalimentation Monitoring)
Critical Care Monitoring
Emergency Medicine
Pediatric Monitoring / Neonatal
Anticoagulation Service
Hackensack University Medical Center has developed an Anticoagulation Service for patients taking blood-thinning medications. (For more information about this service, see Anticoagulation Service.)

Medication Safety
Medication safety is a top priority at Hackensack University Medical Center, which is one of a select number of institutions in the country that has a dedicated medication safety officer who is assigned to oversee pharmacy safety measures that include: strict adherence to regulatory standards; proactive Medication Safety Committee; technology that bolsters safety practices; and Pursuing Perfection initiatives.

Strict Adherence to Regulatory Standards
Policies and procedures of the Pharmacy Department are in strict compliance with all federal and state laws and regulations, as well as with the standards of the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the guidelines of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). The medical center maintains current registration permits from the New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy, the New Jersey Department of Health, and federal and state drug enforcement agencies.

Medication Safety Committee
The Medication Safety Committee ensures safe medication delivery systems that fortify operational efficiencies. The committee, which is lead by a dedicated medication safety officer and includes members from pharmacy, nursing, the medical staff, and administration, oversees the following:

coordination of all medication safety activities.
identification of improvements needed to ensure systemic efficiencies.
ongoing communications with physicians and nurses to identify areas of improvement.
implementation of identified efficiencies and other initiatives.
review of performance improvement data.

Technology that Bolsters Safety Practices
The use of advanced technology in Hackensack University Medical Center’s Pharmacy Department bolsters its goal of optimal medication safety practices. This technology includes unit dose drug dispensing, IV additives, and advanced technology and equipment (all described above), as well as a computerized physician order entry system (described below).

Pursuing Perfection Initiatives
Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only seven healthcare organizations selected nationwide to take part in a $20.9 million grant program from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation called Pursuing Perfection: Raising the Bar for Health Care Performance. Under the program, the medical center received $1.9 million to implement new programs that improve the quality of healthcare in America.

The medical center’s longstanding commitment to optimal medication safety continues to be strengthened through many Pursuing Perfection initiatives, some of which include:

enforcing even more stringent safety measures that reduce the number of adverse drug events for chemotherapy patients
preventing errors through Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), which is a quality improvement process that identifies problem areas so that solutions can be realized
implementing a Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system.

Other strategies that continue to be developed through this initiative include the use of clinician pharmacists in high-risk patient areas and computerized access to patient education materials pertaining to medication use.

Visit the dedicated web site for Pursuing Perfection to read a comprehensive description about these grant initiatives.

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) System

A Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system helps to reduce medication errors and prevent adverse drug events that cause harm to a patient. Safeguards of a computerized ordering system include:

less chance of misreading illegible handwriting because all prescriptions are typed into the computer at the point of service.
clinical decision support that automatically provides the physician with drug information about the appropriate dosing, routes of administration, and frequency.
based on each patient profile, the physician is alerted to potential drug contraindications and allergies.

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Drug Formulary
Hackensack University Medical Center maintains a comprehensive drug formulary, which is a pre-determined inventory of drugs and medications that is continually updated and revised based on the clinical judgment of the medical staff. The formulary includes drugs that are considered safe and effective. Maintaining a drug formulary reduces costs by minimizing the duplication of the types of medications that are kept in stock.

Pharmaceutical Research
The Pharmacy Department actively supports physician investigators who conduct drug research at Hackensack University Medical Center. The pharmacy stocks and dispenses investigational drugs in accordance with the study’s protocol, which is a pre-determined set of rules for an experiment. These directions are submitted by the principal investigator and include pertinent information regarding the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of investigational medications, dosing and monitoring parameters, and control guidelines.

The clinical pharmacy coordinator oversees investigational drug usage and clinician pharmacists provide education to the nursing staff regarding proper usage and side effects. As an integral part of the research study, the department also is responsible for accountability, storage, and inventory supply counts.

Patient and Staff Education
The Pharmacy Department provides a comprehensive array of drug educational opportunities, including patient education, education for healthcare professionals, and the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program.

Patient Education
Drug information services for patients include:

CareNotes™ Printed Information

Inpatient Education

Speaker’s Bureau

Health Awareness Regional Program (HARP)

CareNotes™ Printed Information: Patients at the medical center are provided comprehensive CareNotes™ patient education leaflets that provide easy-to-understand information on health topics including drug information. CareNotes™ is a computerized reference tool that enables physicians and nurses to research and print out up-to-date information about the most frequently administered prescription and nonprescription drugs. The content is fully researched, authoritative, evidence-based information compiled by accomplished health professionals and reviewed by the editorial board of Micromedex®, the manufacturer of the program.

Inpatient Education: Clinician pharmacists provide direct education to patients both while they are hospitalized and upon discharge.

Speaker’s Bureau: Clinician pharmacists are available to speak to community groups on educational topics about medications. To inquire about a clinician pharmacist speaking to your group, contact (add information here once Steven provides the contact person.)

Health Awareness Regional Program (HARP): The Health Awareness Regional Program (HARP) of Hackensack University Medical Center provides health promotion, illness prevention, and educational services that include topics on drug information. HARP works with communities and groups throughout the region. Read about HARP’s diversified health programs: Health Awareness Regional Program.

Education for Healthcare Professionals
Clinician pharmacists routinely conduct educational lectures for medical and nursing personnel, and they provide orientation for residents, fellows, and attending physicians. Another educational source for medical providers is computerized access to Micromedex® HCS, a tool that is located on the Hackensack University Medical Center Intranet. At the click of a button, users can review in-depth, referenced data on dosing, pharmacokinetics, interactions, clinical applications, and efficacy, etc. for FDA- approved, investigational, and international drugs. Back to Top

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