Pharmacy Department

Services Provided

Family Smiling Wearing WhiteThe pharmacy at Clara Maass is an integrated part of the health care team. Pharmacists are responsible for ensuring the safe and effective use of the most appropriate medication for each patient at CMMC. The pharmacy has decentralized pharmacists covering 9 units where the pharmacists are relied on as a drug information resource and to facilitate medication administration.

Pharmacy technicians are an integral part of the team and play a large role in medication preparation and distribution. All of our technicians have completed comprehensive education and training and are registered with the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy.

We value our role in patient care and therefore continuously monitor pharmacist interventions that influence patient outcomes. Examples of these interventions include warfarin monitoring, renal dosing, antibiotic stewardship, evaluating drug levels, monitoring blood chemistries, and patient counseling.

Clinical Services

We strive to provide our patients with the best pharmaceutical care through our various clinical programs. The pharmacy managed anticoagulation program has shown to provide significant benefits to our patients treated with heparin and warfarin. Our antibiotic stewardship monitors the culture and sensitivity of all our patients to ensure that antibiotic therapy is appropriate. We provide counseling in our involuntary and voluntary behavioral health units as well as to patients in our medical units.

Pharmacy has a strong presence in a variety of hospital-wide committees such as:

  • Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
  • Infectious Disease Committee
  • Quality/Medication Safety Committee
  • Patient Satisfaction Steering Committee

Technology

CMMC offers a full array of health care technologies, including:

  • Siemens® Pharmacy for pharmacy order entry
  • Cerner® for electronic medical records and computerized physician order entry- to be implemented in June 2013.
  • Pyxis automated dispensing systems
  • Pharmacy OneSource® to flag patient care initiatives and document pharmacist interventions
  • USP 797 clean room to compound intravenous medications