Why would the chief executive officer (CEO) be interested in having the pharmacy department involved in QI?
Quality management is a core job responsibility of the executive leadership. CEOs are provided incentives to understand and influence practice patterns so that the organization is aligned with evidence-based best practices. Multidisciplinary efforts are under way in the organization to drive a constant flow of information and analysis, continuous improvement as a core strategy, standardization of critical processes, and real time problem solving. As medication experts, pharmacists should be engaged in designing, implementing, and tracking organizational QI initiatives that impact appropriate medication use, such as the timing of initial administration and discontinuation of antibiotic prophylaxis for surgical patients, antibiotic selection and timeliness of antibiotic administration for patients with pneumonia, and ordering of aspirin and beta blockers for patients with acute myocardial infarction. Pharmacists are critical to the success of QI initiatives and tangible results (e.g., a
