Highlights from the history of ASHP are presented on the occasion of the Society's 50th anniversary. Efforts to organize a formal group representing hospital pharmacists, begun in the 1920s, resulted in the formation of a subsection on hospital pharmacy of the American Pharmaceutical Association in 1936. In 1942, ASHP became a distinct organization affiliated with APhA. The body's goals were to establish minimum standards for pharmaceutical services, ensure a supply of well-qualified hospital pharmacists by providing hospital internships, facilitate information exchange, and foster cost-effective use of medicines. The development of practice standards and periodic surveys of hospital pharmaceutical services, educational efforts and accreditation programs, publications, and ASHP's role in the development of principles for hospital formulary systems are described. ASHP's endorsement of unit dose drug distribution and systems for preparation of intravenous admixtures is discussed. The evolution of pharmacists' clinical roles, their increased involvement in drug therapy decisions and the provision of drug information to patients, and the expanded responsibility implicit in the pharmaceutical care concept are traced. Today's ASHP members can build on the work of yesterday's members to provide better pharmaceutical care.
