American hospital pharmacy: a bicentennial perspective.

The history of American hospital pharmacy is reviewed. The development of hospital and health care, the evolution of medical and pharmaceutical sciences, and the growth of pharmacy as a profession are described as prologue to the development of hospital pharmacy. The early development of hospital pharmacy in the 1920s and 1930s, the contributions of Edward Spease and Harvey A. K. Whitney, and the necessity of hospital pharmacy services are discussed. The clinical pharmacy movement is reviewed in terms of its potential for changing the nature of pharmacy practice.