The author spent one half of 1987 working as an institutional pharmacist and the other half working as a community pharmacist. After quizzing administrators, educators, laboratory technicians, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, secretaries, and consumers throughout central Illinois, a picture of the small hospital in transition began to emerge. Exciting new roles for institutional pharmacists are developing, but the future for the “tiny” hospital (smaller than 100 beds), the health service providers who staff them, and the communities they serve is in doubt. This article is intended to provide a view of what is happening in small and very small hospitals in some communities in Illinois.
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