Measuring change in health-system pharmacy over 50 years: "reflecting" on the mirror, part I.

The Director's Forum guides pharmacy leaders in establishing patient-centered services in hospitals and health systems. August 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Mirror to Hospital Pharmacy, which was a comprehensive study of hospital pharmacy services in the United States. This iconic textbook was co-authored by Donald Francke, Clifton J. Latiolais, Gloria N. Francke, and Norman Ho. The Mirror profiled hospital pharmacy of the 1950s and established goals for the profession in 6 paradigms: (1) professional philosophy and ethics, (2) scientific and technical expansion of health-system pharmacy, (3) development of administrative and managerial acumen, (4) increased practice competence, (5) wage and salary compensation commensurate with professional responsibilities, and (6) health-system pharmacy as a vehicle for advancing the profession as a whole. This article critically reviews the profession's progress on the first 3 goals; an article in the January 2014 issue of Hospital Pharmacy will review the final 3 goals. An understanding of the profession's progress on these goals since the seminal work of the Mirror provides directors of pharmacy a platform from which to develop strategies to enhance patient-centered pharmacy services.