Documentation of the first steps of pediatric pharmaceutical care in a county hospital.

Pediatric pharmaceutical care is still a new concept in the pharmacy profession. In our county institution with 35% of the beds reserved for pediatric patients, there existed no formal process for providing specialized pediatric pharmacy services. In an effort to rectify this situation, a study was conducted to determine the benefits of providing pharmaceutical services by having a clinical pharmacist round with physicians on a daily basis for 3 hours. All services provided were documented for 6 months and direct cost-savings were calculated. Five hundred four different interventions and services were provided, with over $7000 in savings. Because of these findings, the pharmacy and hospital administration agreed to provide a staff pharmacist to round in pediatrics on a regular basis. This approach is considered to be more cost effective than using a clinical pharmacist for daily rounds.