Quality Improvement: Pharmacy Involvement in the Operating Room

Abstract

The operating room (OR) environment historically has had minimal pharmacy involvement in the provision of drug therapy to the surgical patient. A pharmacy-initiated quality assessment and improvement program in the OR can impact patient outcomes by ensuring safe, appropriate, and optimal medication use. This article describes various components of a pharmacy quality improvement program in the OR, and focuses on the drug-use evaluation opportunities in this practice setting. Interdepartmental roles in the delivery of care are discussed, as well as documentation tools and strategies. Nontraditional targets for evaluation such as anesthetic administration techniques and postoperative pain management are examined. The advantages of a pharmacist in the OR to coordinate these processes are also described.