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Comparison of hospital pharmacy practice in France and Canada: can different practice perspectives complement each other?

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Abstract

Objective

To compare hospital pharmacy practice in France and Canada by identifying similarities and differences in the two institution’s pharmacy activities, resources, drug dispensing processes and responsibilities.

Setting

Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine (SJ), Montréal, Québec, Canada and Hôpital Robert Debré (RD), Paris, France, are two maternal-child teaching hospitals. They share a similar mission focused on patient care, teaching and research.

Method

The data were gathered from annual reports, department strategic plans and by direct observation.

Main outcome measure

The description and comparison of the legal environment, hospital demographics, pharmacy department data, drug dispensing processes and pharmacist activities in the two institutions.

Results

The Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine and Hôpital Robert Debré are similar with respect to their mission and general demographics; number of beds, annual hospital expenditures, number of admissions, visits and childbirths. The respective pharmacy departments differ in allocated resources. The main operational differences concern compounding, quality control programs and clinical activities. The French department also manages medical devices, medical gases, blood derivatives and the sterilisation unit. These comparisons highlight the more patient-oriented Canadian hospital pharmacy practice against the more product-oriented French hospital practice Factors contributing to these differences include academic curriculum, the attention paid to the legal environment by professional bodies, staffing patterns and culture.

Conclusion

There are differences between the hospital pharmacy practice in the studied hospitals in Canada and France. Hospital pharmacy practice in France seems to be more product oriented, and the practice in Canada seems more patient oriented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de recherche en pratique pharmaceutique, Département de pharmacie, Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte Justine, Université de Montréal, 3175 chemin de la côte Sainte Catherine, Montréal, QC, Canada, H3T 1C5

    Sonia Prot-Labarthe & Jean-François Bussières

  2. AP-HP, Hôpital Robert Debré, Département de pharmacie et centre pluridisciplinaire de dosage des médicaments, Université Paris 5 René Descartes, 48 bd Sérurier, Paris, 75019, France

    Françoise Brion & Olivier Bourdon

Authors
  1. Sonia Prot-Labarthe
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  2. Jean-François Bussières
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  3. Françoise Brion
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  4. Olivier Bourdon
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Correspondence to Sonia Prot-Labarthe.

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Prot-Labarthe, S., Bussières, JF., Brion, F. et al. Comparison of hospital pharmacy practice in France and Canada: can different practice perspectives complement each other?. Pharm World Sci 29, 526–533 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-007-9094-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-007-9094-2

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