Telepharmacy Provides Round-the-Clock Coverage for 7 Rural Hospitals

Posted: January 31, 2008

North Dakota Telepharmacy Project

One of the greatest challenges facing the profession of pharmacy today is delivery of pharmacy services to small rural hospitals. In September 2004, the first three hospital telepharmacy sites joined the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project (NDTP).

The NDTP networked Heart of America Medical Center in Rugby with Mercy Hospital in Devils Lake and St. Aloisius Medical Center in Harvey. A year later, four more rural hospitals were added to the hospital telepharmacy network.

These included Presentation Medical Center in Rolla, Carrington Health Center in Carrington, Triumph Medical Center in Mandan, and Towner County Medical Center in Cando. These seven rural hospitals, located in central and eastern North Dakota, have an average of 32 beds and an average staff of one pharmacist and one pharmacy technician.

By creating a collaborative partnership for the purpose of delivering pharmacy services, this hospital telepharmacy network is able to provide a convenient and affordable solution for meeting their pharmacist staffing needs and a mechanism for satisfying the new JCAHO requirement of pharmacy being accessed after hours by only pharmacy personnel.

The goal is to provide future strategies for hospitals to address the issue of 24/7 pharmacist review of all medication orders.

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