Drug-use evaluation programs in short-term-care general hospitals

The results of a survey to assess drug-use evaluation (DUE) programs in short-term-care general U.S. hospitals are reported. During February 1992, questionnaires were mailed to pharmacy directors at 491 randomly selected short-term-care general hospitals with 100 or more beds. The questionnaire was designed to collect information on the characteristics of surveyed hospitals and their pharmacies, DUE program characteristics, and the perceptions of pharmacists about the DUE programs. The net response rate was 66.6% (327 usable replies). Pharmacist involvement in DUE program activities was found to be very high, with two thirds of respondents indicating they participated in all five ASHP-recommended activities. Pharmacists rated the effectiveness of current DUE programs as moderate, while the importance of pharmacist participation was perceived to be very high. Pharmacists were members of 97.9% of the respondents' DUE committees, but only 65.5% of the pharmacist members held voting privileges. Pharmacists reported devoting an average of 11.27 hours weekly to DUE-related tasks. Reasons used to select drugs for DUEs, interventions employed, uses of DUE results, and methods of evaluating the effectiveness of DUE programs all varied widely. In short- term-care general hospitals with 100 or more beds, pharmacists assigned to DUE activities were highly involved in DUE committees and programs. The effectiveness of these activities needs to be assessed in more detail.