title: Integrating primary care and specialty pharmacy practice to improve ambulatory patient care services.
abstract: This article describes the evolution of clinical pharmacy services in an outpatient setting over a 20-year period. An historical overview of the initiation of services, the state of current practices, and the development of a new clinical service--the medication management service (MMS)--to provide care for general medical patients is presented. Four case studies of recent patients managed by the MMS are given to illustrate the interrelationship between this service and the pharmacist-managed specialty clinics.
authors.affiliation: William S. Middleton Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Madison, WI 53705, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Schuna
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000188:drug therapy; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014922:Wisconsin