PharmaTrend as a management tool: introduction.

Use of the PharmaTrend computerized management information system to document workload and productivity in hospital pharmacy departments is described. PharmaTrend provides indicators in the areas of revenue, cost, drug distribution, clinical services, research, education, and management support; examples are total direct cost per admission, total drug cost per drug distribution work unit, and comparisons between cost and revenue, supportive staff and pharmacist work hours, and total staff work and paid hours. The key information provided by PharmaTrend is not specific indicators or values, however, but the display of trends. PharmTrend files can be downloaded to other spreadsheet and database management programs; the sophisticated user can recalculate values for indicators or develop new indicators. Information about revenue and the cost of drug distribution is easily obtained from reports; this information, combined with data on hours worked to provide drug distribution services, can provide access to all the key PharmaTrend indicators. Institution-specific data are made available to managers elsewhere by submitting them for use in the PharmaTrend national report, which is organized so that users can compare values for their indicators with those reported by hospitals of various size in various geographic regions. PharmaTrend can be a valuable tool in hospital pharmacy management and provides a basis for developing accurate and meaningful workload standards for pharmacy practice.