AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEALTH-SYSTEM PHARMACISTS
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ASHP Introduction
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is a professional organization representing the interests of pharmacists who practice in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, long-term care facilities, home care, and other components of health care systems. ASHP strives to ensure high-quality professional pharmacy practice in hospitals and health systems so that pharmacists can make the best and safest use of medications for their patients.
ASHP has some 30,000 members, a staff of more than 200 and a budget that exceeds 34 million. Membership is represented in five sections and two forums.
ASHP's Mission
The mission of the society is to advance and support the professional practice of pharmacists in hospitals and health systems and serve as their collective voice on issues related to medication use and public health.
Assisting pharmacists in fulfilling this mission is ASHP's primary objective and this is accomplished through the following avenues:
Leadership Agenda- The five items in the Leadership Agenda are ASHP’s top professional priorities.
- Improve medication-use safety in hospitals and health systems
- Expand access to the patient care services of hospital and health-system pharmacists
- Foster an adequate supply of qualified practice managers, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians in hospitals and health systems
- Foster evidence-based medication use in hospitals and health systems
- Help hospital and health-system pharmacists deal with the affordability and accessibility of pharmaceuticals
The ASHP Health-System Pharmacy 2015 Initiative- is an initiative to significantly improve the practice of pharmacy in hospitals and health systems.
Officially launched in September 2003, this Initiative began with a member-developed vision statement that conceptualizes how pharmacy practice in hospitals and other components of health systems should look in the future.
The project, which includes six key goals and 31 objectives to be achieved by the year 2015, evolved from the ASHP Vision Statement for Pharmacy Practice in Hospitals and Health Systems. The principal themes in the statement (and therefore in the goals and objectives) are that health-system pharmacists will help make medication use more effective, scientific, and safe and will contribute meaningfully to public health in their communities.
ASHP’s Other Core Strengths
Through the years ASHP has played a leading role in advancing the profession of pharmacy and establishing best practices.
• The Society has extensive publishing and educational programs designed to help members improve their professional practice
- American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
- AHFS Drug Information Book
- Handbook on Injectable Drugs
• ASHP is involved with setting standards and guidelines for best practices.
- Best Practices for Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy
• A series of continuing-education conferences, meetings, and exhibits are held each year. The Midyear Clinical Meeting held each December has grown to be the largest meeting of pharmacists in the world.
- Midyear Clinical Meeting
- Summer Meeting
- Practice Management Leadership Conference
• ASHP is the national accrediting organization for pharmacy residency programs. ASHP's Accreditation Services staff is committed to assisting existing residencies refine their programs, helping prospective programs with the process of seeking accreditation, and making it as easy as possible for prospective residents to get the information needed to find the best residency program for them
• ASHP provides legislative advocacy on health system pharmacy issues.
The mission of the Government Affairs division is
- To advocate ASHP policy and positions before federal and state policymakers and the courts.
- To empower the membership to work in partnership with ASHP and its state affiliates to achieve public policy that helps people make the best use of medicines.
- To use grass roots communications and political action activities to enable the membership and staff to achieve these objectives.
ASHP provides professional advocacy on health system pharmacy issues to government agencies, such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and healthcare organizations like Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and Institute of Medicine(IOM).
External links
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