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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between organizational learning and patient safety culture in hospital pharmacy settings as determined by the learning organization survey short-form (LOS-27) and pharmacy survey on patient safety culture instruments, and to further explore how dimensions of organizational learning relate to dimensions of pharmacy patient safety culture.

This study is a cross-sectional study. Data were obtained from three public hospital pharmacies and three private hospital pharmacies in Kuwait. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

A total of 272 surveys (59.1 percent response rate) were completed and returned. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between organizational learning and patient safety culture in hospital pharmacy settings (path coefficient of 0.826, p-value <0.05 and R² of 0.683). Several dimensions of the organizational learning showed significant links to the various dimensions of the pharmacy patient safety culture. Specifically, training (TRN), management that reinforces learning (MRL) and supportive learning environment (SLE) had the strongest effects on the pharmacy patient safety culture dimensions. Moreover, these effects indicated that MRL, SLE and TRN were associated with improvements in most dimensions of pharmacy patient safety culture.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to assess the relationship between organizational learning, patient safety culture and their dimensions in hospital pharmacy settings.

To introduce the applicability of the Ned‐MASTA classification method for medicines within the environment of a hospital pharmacy and the virtual pharmacy inventory system that forms a virtual pharmacy inventory of hospitals within the same geographical region providing the infrastructure for the cooperation of hospital pharmacies in order to improve the efficiency of their operations.

A survey that was conducted in Greek hospitals identified the inefficiencies of their logistics systems that are similar to inefficiencies identified through surveys in hospitals worldwide. It was considered vital and necessary to investigate the solutions that are provided in other industries facing similar problems. The case of spare parts inventory for production machines was found to present similarities with the management of medicine stock within the hospital pharmacy. The approach that was followed for the case of spare parts was modified and included in the system that forms a virtual hospital pharmacy inventory; this made the approach applicable in the hospital environment and further improved the efficiency of the use of hospital pharmacy resources.

The MASTA classification approach was modified to fit in the operation of the hospital pharmacy and a system was constructed to form the virtual pharmacy inventory. The applicability of the system is demonstrated through an application scenario.

The system is in the form of a prototype under evaluation. It has not been applied yet thus results that are based on actual applications are not presented.

It demonstrates the idea of a solution to the inefficiencies of the hospital pharmacy and sets the ground for discussing the proposed solution.

This study introduces a new approach to the problems and inefficiencies of the hospital pharmacy management.

Institutional pharmaceutical services have widely evolved over the past 20‐30 years. Hospital pharmacy practice has changed from a profession concerned chiefly with the bulk preparation and distribution of drug products to one centred on ensuring optimal drug therapy. Whereas hospital pharmacists were charged with maintaining large drug stock on nursing units, many of them now provide individualised patient therapies. The practice of hospital pharmacy has therefore become one encompassing all aspects of drug therapy, from the procurement of drugs and drug delivery devices, their preparation and distribution, to their most appropriate selection and use for each patient. Hospital pharmacy services have traditionally had little involvement at the key stages in patients’ hospital care. This leads to the conclusion that the model of clinical pharmacy practice adopted by many pharmacy department hospitals is no longer appropriate for the demands of today’s health‐care services. Reviews many new models proposed for clinical pharmacy practice including an integrated model for providing a pharmaceutical care management approach in the health‐care system. This model is a response to the failures of traditional drug therapy. It is primarily an idea about how health professionals and patient should integrate their work to obtain outcomes important to patients and clinicians.

Against a backdrop of concerns regarding the quality and equity of the final practice-based pre-registration training year, the purpose of this paper is to examine how robust and equitable current education and training arrangements in Great Britain are in preparing newly qualified pharmacists (NQPs) for practice.

In addition to considering relevant regulator, policy and research literature, this paper presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that tracked 20 pharmacy trainees and their tutors during pre-registration training and early registered practice. Trainees were interviewed four times over a 12-month period; tutors were interviewed twice. Semi-structured interviews explored learning and development, work environment and support received. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically using template analysis.

Currently, there are no requirements tor training pre-registration tutors, or for accreditation or quality assurance of training sites. Longitudinal interview findings showed that community trainees developed knowledge of over-the-counter and less complex, medicines whereas hospital trainees learnt about specialist medicines on ward rotations. Hospital trainees received support from a range of pharmacists, overseen by their tutor and other healthcare professionals. Community trainees generally worked within a small pharmacy team, closely supervised by their tutor, who was usually the sole pharmacist. NQPs were challenged by having full responsibility and accountability as independent practitioners, without formal support mechanisms.

The variability in trainee experience and exposure across settings raises concerns over the robustness and equity of pre-registration training. The lack of formal support mechanisms post-registration may pose risks to patient safety and pharmacists’ well-being.

This paper aims to examine the role of e‐commerce in hospital pharmacy in the procurement of pharmaceuticals and determine how this has improved the internal pharmaceutical supply chain. Whilst e‐commerce is in its infancy in this area it is still considered to be an important facet of supply chain management. E‐trading within NHS pharmacies is conducted via electronic data interchange (EDI) offering proven benefits and ensuring the efficient and effective transmission of data between remote parties.

The data were collected via a case‐study in an NHS trust pharmacy supported and by questionnaires distributed to NHS and community pharmacies in the north‐west of England.

The findings support the view that there are benefits to be gained from introducing EDI into a purchasing department as the next logical step towards a total e‐commerce solution (internet‐based) and instigating quality improvements. It also proposes that the implementation and use of e‐commerce in hospital pharmacies can be aligned with progress made in small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), and questions why, if such benefits can be realised, the use of e‐commerce systems are not more widespread.

The implications of this research is that it offers a “snap‐shot” of progress made‐to‐date of e‐commerce in NHS Pharmacy, which can provide guidance for mangers and healthcare professionals managing their e‐commerce/quality improvement agenda. The research conducted was restricted to a specific regional area of the NHS and could be applied to a larger national sample group. Future research within this field should also consider the cost of not introducing e‐commerce in pursuing quality improvement.

This discussion offers an insight into how a pharmacy approached EDI, and this is further supported by recent research conducted into examining the pharmacy systems in operation in the north‐west of England and accompanying EDI systems and an analysis of EDI uptake and use in a sample of pharmacies in the same region, the latter being supported by anecdotal evidence of pros and cons to using EDI and potential barriers to its introduction.

As healthcare reform takes shape, many challenges face hospital pharmacists. An opportunity exists to combine the principles of patient‐focused care and pharmaceutical care to redesign the role of pharmacy. To achieve this objective, pharmacy departments should adopt business concepts such as process re‐engineering. Process re‐engineering is a change management tool which aims to produce dramatic improvement in performance measures by re‐designing the process. The goal of restructuring is to increase the amount of time pharmacists spend providing pharmaceutical care to patients. The pharmaceutical care concept is a method of delivering pharmaceutical care services that match individual patient needs with the services provided. This article describes many hospital pharmacy department transitions to a patient focused care environment by adopting the patient focused care concept and the process re‐engineering to improve the quality of patient care through systems improvement.

The article features a study based on postal questionnaires and structured interviews, targeting senior members of the hospital pharmacy profession. The aim was to examine the potential of practice and performance benchmarking as a means of improving competence and capabilities within the clinical pharmacy service of NHS Trust hospitals. Postulation of models and analysis of data is followed by discussion of results. This leads to a number of suggestions and conclusions with respect to the potential role of benchmarking including an assessment of its suitability, limitations, and implementation issues associated with this particular service sector.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the nature of collaborative arrangements that partners in Australian hospital supply chains use to manage inventories.

A case study involving a supply chain network of ten healthcare organisations (three pharmaceutical manufacturers, two wholesalers/distributors and five public hospitals) was studied. Data included 40 semi‐structured interviews, site visits and examination of documents.

This study highlights the existence of a variety of collaborative arrangements amongst supply chain partners such as the “Ward Box” system (a variant of the vender managed inventory system) between wholesalers/distributors and hospitals. The materials management departments were more willing than their pharmacy counterparts to participate in a variety of partial and complete outsourcing arrangements with wholesalers/distributors and other hospitals. Several contingent factors were identified that influenced development of collaborative arrangements.

This study is limited to the Australian healthcare sector. To improve generalisability, this study could be replicated in other industry sectors and countries.

Application of collaborative arrangements between manufacturers and wholesalers/distributors would improve inventory management practices across the supply chains. Also, learning from materials management departments could be transferable to pharmacy departments.

Several contingent variables for the implementation of collaborative inventory management arrangements between healthcare supply chain partners have been identified. Methodologically, data across three echelons in the supply chains (manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors and hospitals) were collected and analysed.

Pharmacy services start right from prescribing medicines and continue as the medication’s effect is monitored. Hospital and community pharmacy staff promote rational prescribing and medicine use. Consequentially, pharmacy is a complex and busy field. Often there are peak workload hours when patients must wait, which is associated with patient dissatisfaction that may negatively affect patient experience and the organisation’s reputation. The purpose of this paper is to enlist techniques, methods and technological advancements that have been successfully employed to reduce patient waiting time.

A database search was conducted in 2017 to locate articles addressing methods and technologies that reduce pharmacy waiting time. The literature revealed various techniques and technologies like queuing theory, tele-pharmacy, evidence-based pharmacy design, automated pharmacy systems (robotics), system modelling and simulation and the Six Sigma method for identifying potential problems associated with increased wait time.

The authors conclude that various techniques and methods, including automated queuing technology, tele-pharmacy, automated pharmacy devices/machines for quick and accurate filling and dispensing, computer simulation modelling, evidence-based pharmacy infrastructure for smooth workflow and Six Sigma can maintain customer satisfaction, reduce waiting time, attract new customers, decrease workload and improve the organisation’s reputation.

The authors conclude that various techniques and methods, including automated queuing technology, tele-pharmacy, automated pharmacy devices/machines for quick and accurate filling and dispensing, computer simulation modelling, evidence-based pharmacy infrastructure for smooth workflow and Six Sigma methodology can maintain customer satisfaction, reduce waiting time, attract new customers, decrease workload and improve the organisation’s reputation.

The authors carried out a literature search and identified the techniques that have been successfully implemented to reduce pharmacy patient waiting time and methods that can identify potential process behind medication dispensation delays.

Competition and cooperation co‐exist in various sub‐fields of organizational strategies, while a research gap remains in the links between how managers perceive their cognitive relations with rival partners and how they choose a strategy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different focuses of competition and cooperation are put in core and supportive strategic importance based on business manager's individual perception toward a particular rivalling cognition.

A conceptual model is developed composed by several hypotheses. An empirical study is conducted by analysing data collected from 89 pharmacies, including public hospital pharmacies and community service, private chain retailing pharmacy, and independent pharmacies, out of hundreds of outlets in a capital city in China to test hypotheses. By using factor analysis and correlation analysis, several hypotheses are supported in linking competitive cognition with either core marketing strategies or supportive marketing strategies.

Observational results indicate that large and small pharmacies, motivated by relational perceptions among competitors, tend to rely selectively on some strategic tools of competition and cooperation in terms of their different business nature.

These results are valuable for business managers in the healthcare industry, enabling them to rethink their relations with strategic partners and their strategies.

The paper's findings enrich understanding of how a competing environment influences strategic orientation of competition and cooperation under a collaborative marketing framework.