Key Terms
Medication Order
a prescription written in the hospital setting
Drug Formulary
a list of approved medications for use within the hospital; this list is approved by the P&T Committee
Home Medications
a patient’s medications brought from home to continue use while in hospital
Intake Record
documentation by the nurse upon admission to the hospital
Quality Assurance (QA)
a system of proce-dures, activities, feedback, and oversight that ensures that operational and quality standards are consistently met
Cart Fill List
a daily printout of all patient profiles
Admitting Order
a medication order written by a physician on admission of a patient to the hospital; may or may not include a medication order
Floor Stock
medications stocked in a secured area at each nursing patient care station or floor
Home Infusion Pharmacy
a specialty pharmacy set up particularly to serve home healthcare dispensing
Par Levels
the minimum restock and maximum reorder levels for each drug on each nursing unit
STAT Order
a medication order that is to be filled and sent to the patient care unit immediately
eMAR
an online record char documents the administration time of each drug to each patient by a nurse using barcode technology
Discharge Order
an order written by a physician that provides take-home instructions, including prescribed medications and doses, for a discharged patient
IV Admixture
a centralized pharmacy service that prepares IV, TPN, and hazardous preparations in a sterile, cleanroom work environment
Tech Check Tech (TCT)
a senior pharmacy technician checks another pharmacy rechni-cian’s work to add another layer of verification of the medication order prior to drug administration
Automated Medication Dispensing System (AMDS)
a secure, locked storage cabinet of designated drugs on a nursing unit whose software can track the dispensing and administration of each dose of medication to each patient
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
computerized health information record to share patient information among authorized healthcare providers to better coordinare health care
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
a committee of the hospital that ensures that appropriate protection is provided to patients using investigational drugs; sometimes referred to as the Human Use Committee
The Joint Commission
an independent governing body that sets standards for quality patient care and safety in hospitals and other healthcare facilities; this organization is responsible for the accreditation of hospitals
Unit Dose
an amount of a drug that has been prepackaged or repackaged to a particular patient for a single administration at a particular time
Director of Pharmacy
also known as the Pharmacist in Charge (PIC) the chief executive officer of the hospital pharmacy department
Medical Chart
a hard copy or digital legal document chat contains the clinical information that a hospital collects in-house and consists of patient identifying demographics, hospital room number, physician notes, problem list, medication orders and list, nursing assessments, and discharge
Investigational Drug
a drug used in clinical trials that has not yet been approved by the FDA for use in the general population, or a drug used for non-approved indications
Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee
a committee of the hospital that reviews, approves, and revises the hospital’s formulary of drugs and maintains the drug use policies of the hospital
Unit Dose Product Label
contains product information on drug labels: drug name, dose, strength, manufacturer, expiration date, and barcode