The state of U.S. emergency care: a call to action for hospital pharmacists

Abstract

The recent publication of the Institute of Medicine/Board on Health Care Services reports on the future of emergency care in the US health system has identified the main limitations of the care provided by emergency departments (EDs). Increased development of ED pharmacy services and increased involvement of pharmacists in the ED can contribute to improvements in shortcomings identified in the report. Pharmacy training programs must take the initiative to incorporate emergency care into their curricula to meet the predicted increase in demand for ED pharmacists. Pharmacy associations, administrators, and ED practitioners must direct research on the impact of the pharmacist in the ED.