Guidelines for Establishing Pharmacy Services in Ambulatory Care

Objective. To describe the process of initiating new pharmacy services in an outpatient clinic setting. Background. The majority of clinical faculty at Colleges of Pharmacy maintains a clinical practice site. Faculty often implements pharmacy services at clinical sites de novo. While the published literature focuses on describing pharmacists’ scope of practice in a variety of clinical practice settings, it falls short of describing the process of establishing new pharmacy services. Methods. A networking group of University faculty ambulatory care practitioners—from different clinical settings, at different stages of their careers—meets monthly via telephone conference sessions to discuss issues related to setting up a clinical practice site. After each session, a Situation-Target- Plan Report (STP Report) is generated and shared among the participants. Guidelines will be created offering best practices for implementing pharmacy services in an ambulatory clinic setting. Results. Successful methods and strategies will be identified to aid the new pharmacy practitioner in establishing long-term working relationships with physicians and building a sustainable clinical practice site. Conclusion. A consensus of best practices offers strategy and framework for establishing new pharmacy services in outpatient clinics.