QARx: the quality assurance prescription.

The QARx program provides the necessary tools for organizing and effectively implementing a quality assurance program for a pharmacy department that truly offers the ever-elusive potential for creating an environment that promotes on-going quality improvement for the department. Eventually there will be a plethora of criteria sets available so that a pharmacist will be able to just choose the pertinent indicators from the shelf (if you choose not to create your own). There is an option to import criteria sets from the utilities menu, and the availability of pertinent sets should provide an attractive option for actually selecting certain readily available sets of indicators, monitors, and outcomes to be automatically imported into your existing quality assurance plan. This program is a must for any department manager trying to organize and orchestrate an effective quality assurance program in a health care institution. For more information about QARx, contact the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, Special Projects Division, 4630 Montgomery Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 657-3000.