The pharmacy subspecialty I choose is hospital pharmacy. As a current employee at the University of Utah Hospital Pharmacy, I see the implementation of pharmacy informatics concepts discussed in class. Pharmaceutical IT allows me to practice the pharmaceutical profession quickly, safely and in the best interests of the patient. Computerized physician order entry allows for fewer errors and requires less interpretation by pharmacy staff. This saves pharmacists time that they can spend checking multiple orders. Having an IT system that can verify a drug ordered via the NDC number and implement a final check by a pharmacist contributes greatly to patient safety. Pharmaceutical informatics provides us with the computer systems, databases and interfaces to ensure that the patient receives the correct drug in the correct concentration at the right time for the disease. The cycle of use of the drug consists of prescribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring.( 1) As mentioned previously, the computerized registration of the medical prescription communicates the order to the pharmacy. This order absolutely cannot be dispensed until a pharmacist verifies the order, whereupon it is sent to the work route for collection. The interface between these two systems is critical to recovering the drug for administration. The next step is administration to the patient by the nurse. The nurse relies on the electronic medical record to indicate which medication a patient needs and when to administer it. This also relies on a crucial interface between the system where the pharmacist verifies the order and its subsequent appearance in the electronic medical record. Depending on whether the medicine cabinet has the drug or the paper, standards and vocabulary are crucial for clinical decision support (CDS) to work properly. The basis of the “knowledge” possessed by the CDS is the ontology programmed within it. It lacks the ability to think critically and only has knowledge programmed into it via standards. If a system uses one vocabulary and tries to communicate with another system that uses a different vocabulary, the system will not understand. This can lead to medication errors or lack of adequate therapy and pharmacological management. References1. Lombardi, P. T. (2000). “Closing the Loop – Implementing quality improvement processes and technological advances to reduce medication errors.” MedScape today.2. Van der Maas, A.F. et al. (2001). "Requirements for medical modeling languages". J Am Med Informa Assoc. 2001 March-April; 8(2): 146–162.