If there are expert systems and dose checks, why do we still need the clinical pharmacist?
Trends in patient care, along with escalating health care costs, and the demand for medication safety may provide a breadth of opportunities for clinical pharmacists. Service and drug use guidelines development, medication error prevention, quality assurance, and pharmacoeconomic assessment are areas in which skills of the oncology pharmacist may be used. Although expert systems may aid the pharmacist in these areas, such systems cannot replace the professional.
Wong
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Division of Clinical Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco 94143, USA.
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D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016303:Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005103:Expert Systems; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012495:San Francisco