Freeing pharmacist time and providing basic clinical services in an 89-bed community hospital.

The institution of clinical services in a small community hospital can be accomplished with a mix of the right personnel and a proper environment and approach. Valuable, cost-effective clinical services can be performed with present staff levels in many hospitals. We describe how we went about examining our pharmacy service and making improvements in efficiency in order to free pharmacist time for provision of clinical services. We believe that gathering personnel time to use for clinical functions is a matter of timing, organization, and making every day tasks more efficient.