Administration Rotation

Lutheran Health Network

Ft. Wayne, IN

Preceptor: Mike Sievers, Network Director of Pharmacy

Lutheran Health Network is a network of ten hospitals in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. Lutheran Hospital of Indiana is 435-bed community hospital. The Lutheran Musculoskeletal Center is a 40-bed orthopedics joint-venture hospital adjacent to Lutheran Hospital.  St. Joseph Hospital is a 150-bed community hospital. The Rehabilitation Hospital of Ft. Wayne is a 35-bed rehabilitation hospital. Dupont Hospital is a 135-bed community hospital.  Lutheran Health Network also encompasses Kosciusko Community Hospital in Warsaw, Indiana, Dukes Memorial Hospital in Peru, Indiana, Bluffton Regional Medical Center in Bluffton, Indiana and Porter Hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana.  Lutheran Health Network also provides pharmacy services to Community Memorial Hospital in Hicksville, Ohio.  Community Health Systems of Franklin, Tennessee owns all of the hospitals.  

Lutheran Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital, Dupont Hospital and the Rehabilitation Hospital serve northeast Indiana, northwest Ohio, and southern Michigan.  

Lutheran Hospital offers a wide variety of specialty services for neonatal to geriatric patient populations. Lutheran is the only hospital in N.E. Indiana that performs heart transplants and kidney transplants. There are four intensive care units to take care of patients with coronary, cardiovascular, medical/surgical, and pediatric needs. The hospital also has a Children’s Hospital within the hospital.  That area includes a 10 bed critical care unit and a 25 bed neonatal unit. A foundation has been laid to classify the hospital as a Level II trauma center, which will soon be implemented.  Other major product lines for Lutheran Hospital include cardiac care, oncology, orthopedics and neurological services.

St. Joseph Hospital has a nationally known regional Burn Center that is accredited by the American Burn Association. St. Joseph offers a wide variety of specialty services, including cardiology, cardiac surgery, pulmonology, critical care, infectious disease, nephrology, and rehabilitation services. The hospital also operates a regional wound care/hyperbaric clinic, and a transition care unit or skilled care facility.  

The Pharmacy departments are fully computerized operations offering complete unit dose and IV admixture services.  The computerized distributive and informatics services include paperless FAX-imaging order processing, generation of nursing medication administrative records, drug allergy and interaction checks, access to Lab and medical information, clinical intervention documentation and use of computerized drug information systems.

The pharmacies are highly automated.  The robot provides medication cart fill assistance for all hospitals of Lutheran Health Network.   Decentralized automated drug distribution cabinets are on patient care areas for distribution of PRN medications and first doses.  Bedside drug administration verification assisted by bar code technology has been implemented at two facilities and is planned for implementation at all facilities.  Computerized Patient Order Entry has been implemented at two facilities and is planned for implementation at all facilities.

Specialized clinical pharmacy services include a well-established pharmacokinetic dosing service, anticoagulation service, TPN dosing service, pain management service, Xigris evaluations, renal dosing service and erythropoietic growth factor dosing service with pharmacy responsible for the complete dosing and monitoring of patients. Pharmacists counsel patients as part of a medication discharge program, and provide inpatient and outpatient classroom teaching as a member of the diabetic and cardiac rehab programs.  The Anticoagulation Clinic is a pharmacy-run clinic with nursing participation.  The pharmacists are all ACLS certified and are members of the code blue team assisting in the preparation and administration of code medications, and documentation of code process and outcomes. Two pharmacists jointly provide specialty 10-hr coverage for the critical care units in the hospital seven days a week. The pharmacy is also involved in the weekly burn unit rounds. Other services include targeted drug therapy monitoring, drug usage evaluation, family practice resident rounds, and continuing education programs for pharmacists and nurses, consulting services for transitional care unit, community involvement, and medical committee participation (including Pharmacy & Therapeutics, Institutional Review Board, Medical Ethics, and Infection Control).  

PharmD clerkship rotations are designed to provide a unique practical learning experience. The student will be expected to actively participate in all facets of pharmaceutical care services that apply to their particular rotation. Depending on the rotation, students may spend some time at each facility. Work responsibilities will primarily be Monday through Friday. 

Administrative Clinical Pharmacy Rotation  

This rotation provides the student with the opportunity to gain an understanding of the challenges and demands of providing pharmacy services in an institutional setting. The student will gain experience in the administration and coordination of pharmacy services and specific clinical projects.

This rotation also provides the opportunity to be exposed to a larger corporate culture.  The student will participate in corporate wide decision-making processes. The student will also be exposed to the processes of a National Group Purchasing Organization by participating with the Director in his role as an Advisory Board member.  The rotation will involve daily interaction with the director of pharmacy and manager of clinical services.  

Activities will include, but not be limited to:

·           Evaluation of defined pharmacy operations or projects

·           Evaluation and analysis of pharmacy financial reports

·           Participation in pharmacy and therapeutics committee projects – Analysis of drug therapy options including pharmacoeconomic analysis

·           Exposure to Medication Variance and Adverse Drug Occurrence reports

·           Participation In the pharmacy Intervention documentation program

·           Participation in medical staff committees

·           Completion of an assigned administrative or clinical project

·           Exposure to JCAHO and regulatory agency requirements

·           Attendance at weekly medical educational conferences

·           Participation in Quality Improvement process

·           Concurrent and closed chart review

All rotations may be varied to adapt to the students Individual experiences or interests.