Terms
A medication order written by a physician on admission of a patient to the hospital may or may not include a medication order.
Admitting Order
A list of approved medications for use within the hospital; this list is approved by the P&T Committee.
drug formulary
A patient’s medications were brought from home to continue use while in the hospital.
Home Medications
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.
The Joint Commission
An area of the inpatient pharmacy that houses frequently prescribed formulary drugs in commercially available unit dose packaging, thus allowing efficient medication cart filling by more than one technician.
Pick station
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.
automated medication dispensing system (AMDS)
Computerized health information record to share patient information among the authorized healthcare providers to better coordinate health care.
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
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.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
A prescription written in the hospital setting.
Medication order
A medication order that is to be filled and sent to the patient care unit immediately.
STAT order
A daily printout of all patient profiles.
Cart fill list
An online record that documents the administration time of each drug to each patient by a nurse using barcode technology.
eMAR
Documentation by the nurse upon admission to the hospital.
intake record
A drug not included on the hospital’s drug formulary.
Nonformulary drug
A senior pharmacy technician checks another pharmacy technician’s work to add another layer of verification of the medication order before drug administration.
Tech Check Tech
Also known as the Pharmacist in Charge (PIC), the chief executive officer of the hospital pharmacy department.
Director of Pharmacy
Medications are stocked in a secure area at each nursing patient care station or floor.
floor stock
A centralized pharmacy service that prepares IV, TPN, and hazardous preparations in a sterile, cleanroom work environment.
IV admixture
The minimum restock and maximum reorder levels for each drug on each nursing unit.
par levels
An IV infusion therapy treatment that supplies a patient with all the nutrition needed by the body.
total parenteral nutrition (TPN)
An order written by a physician that provides take-home instructions, including prescribed medications and doses, for a discharged patient.
discharge order
A specialty pharmacy set up particularly to serve home healthcare dispensing.
home infusion pharmacy
A drug used in clinical trials that has not yet been approved by the FDA for use in the general population, ot a drug used for non-approved indications.
investigational drug
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.
Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee
An amount of a drug that has been prepackaged or repackaged for a particular patient for a single administration at a particular time.
unit dose