Clinical education for hospital pharmacists in the Netherlands and the United States of America: Some observations

Three parameters for the quality of clinical education for hospital pharmacists are postulated: the number of pharmacists who can serve as preceptors, the depth and scope of clinical pharmacy services, and the structure of the training. Dutch hospital pharmacies exhibit consistently lower pharmacist staffing ratios than their American counterparts. For the scope of services provided in Dutch (as compared to American) hospitals, the emphasis is on pharmacokinetic consultation and handling of radiopharmaceuticals, services which require less patient involvement and are consequently less labour intensive than services, such as patient profile and drug interaction monitoring services, which are more prevalent in American hospital pharmacies. 17% Of Dutch respondents were not exposed to patient profile monitoring during their training, 16% were not exposed to drug interactions monitoring, 9.8% were not exposed to pharmacokinetic services and 8.9% were not exposed to drug information services, although these services are provided at the current worksite. Dutch hospital pharmacists are often solo practitioners maintaining a high standard of practice by focusing on core tasks and activities.