A survey of Pharmacy and Therapeutic committees across Canada: scope and responsibilities.
BACKGROUND
Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committees have traditionally evaluated and developed policies for the clinical use of medications and for ensuring safe and effective drug use and administration.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to determine the current activities of hospital P&T committees across Canada.


METHODS
Surveys were mailed to 856 (693 English, 163 French translations) Canadian hospitals (acute, chronic or rehabilitation) across Canada. Questions consisted of information on P&T membership, scope and responsibilities. Completed surveys were returned by fax. All data was entered into Excel and analyzed for descriptive statistics.


RESULTS
123 surveys were returned, representing 207 hospitals, for an effective response rate of 24%. Four hospitals returned incomplete surveys. Surveys were returned from all areas of Canada, except the territories. On average, P&T committees met six times per year. The average size of the committees was 11 members, with physicians comprising half the membership. Pharmacists and nurses had equal representation; other members were community representatives, dieticians, quality assurance personnel and/or administrators. The top responsibilities of the P&T committee were inpatient formulary management (93% of respondents), drug-use policy making (92%), adverse drug reaction monitoring (83%), patient safety (80%) and drug-use monitoring (80%). Subcommittees were utilized by 46% of P&T committees including antimicrobial (38%), medication safety (25%) and nutrition (14%). Economic evaluations were most frequently completed by a pharmacist who had some previous pharmacoeconomic experience.


CONCLUSIONS
This survey reports on the current status and responsibilities, namely formulary management and policy making, of P&T committees in Canada.
Mittmann
Nicole
N
HOPE Research Centre, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada. nicole.mittmann@sunnybrook.ca
Knowles
Sandra
S
D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D002170:Canada; D003625:Data Collection; D005572:Formularies, Hospital as Topic; D009726:Nurses / Q000458:organization & administration; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000458:organization & administration; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010606:Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role