Implementation of product-line management in a hospital pharmacy department.

The development and implementation of product-line management (PLM) in a pharmacy department is reviewed. The PLM system of hospital organization shifts the emphasis from function to product. The pharmacy department at a 737-bed nonprofit hospital adopted PLM in an effort to reach more directly the physician and patient markets, enhance the image of pharmacy, and help meet requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The department surveyed physicians and administrators to identify their product and service needs and surveyed pharmacy staff members to identify the perceived benefits and risks of a PLM system. A strategic-planning session was held to decide how best to match the pharmacy department's product lines with market needs. The team leaders were renamed clinical supervisors and were no longer responsible for defined physical areas but rather for clinical matters relating to patients in the product line assigned. Pharmacy's chosen product lines were oncology services, neuropsychiatry, maternal and child care, cardiovascular, operating room-anesthesia-pain clinic, and general medical. The transition is being accomplished one product line at a time; interested team leaders transfer into clinical supervisor positions by achieving clinical expertise within the relevant product lines. Despite some initial confusion, PLM contributed to job satisfaction and morale and allowed the pharmacy department to provide increased clinical consultation and intervention services. PLM enhanced the clinical pharmacy program and focused clinical services on the physician and ultimately the patient.