All departments
The Pharmacy Department purchases, stores and supplies all medicines used within the hospital and provides information on them. Our staff includes pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, student pharmacists and pharmacy technician students, clerical support and supplies officers.
The main services provided by the Pharmacy Department are:
The Pharmacy Department also provides a clinical pharmacy and dispensary service to St Joseph’s Hospital.
We ensure that medicines are purchased, stored and supplied promptly, safely and cost effectively. Our dispensary service also makes certain products, for example creams and mouthwashes when they aren’t available to purchase.
Pharmacists on wards in the hospital review prescriptions to make sure they are safe and appropriate for patients. Clinical pharmacists provide key information on medicines to medical, nursing and other staff, as well as to patients.
We prepare sterile products in a specially controlled and monitored environment. This service plays an important role in the delivery of cancer chemotherapy and cancer clinical trials.
We promote the safe, effective and economical use of medicines by providing up-to-date and accurate information and advice to healthcare professionals within the hospital. The service provides information on drug dosage and administration, side effects and drug interactions.
We work as part of a team of different healthcare professionals to deliver clinical pharmacy services for patients with HIV and hepatitis C. Our work involves educating and advising patients and healthcare professionals about drug therapies and interactions, as well as managing side effects and other drug-related issues. We are also involved in infectious diseases clinical trials.
We promote the appropriate use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials throughout the hospital, working to ensure that they are prescribed safely and cost-effectively.
Transplant patients are often on a lot of complex medicines - we work to promote their safe, rational and economical prescribing. This helps improve patient's quality of life before and after their transplant surgery.
Medication management and patient safety are very important to us. A Medication Safety Pharmacist, along with the Drugs & Therapeutics, and Clinical Governance committees, work to promote safe medication practices in our hospital. Our staff choose to report medication incidents, which allows us to detect and correct any inaccuracies in the medication-use system.
We combine clinical knowledge with information technology to support, enhance and optimise pharmacy services with digital solutions. Informatics pharmacists are responsible for the implementation, development and maintenance of all digitised systems involving medication management.
The Pharmacy Department is integral to both the Drugs and Therapeutics, and Clinical Governance committees of the hospital. Through these committees, all policies involving medicines are reviewed and collaboratively worked on to provide quality assurance to both patients and the hospital.
The Pharmacy Department is central to all of the medication aspects of our accrediting inspections, including OECI, HIQA, and JCI, which the hospital is currently preparing for.
The Pharmacy Department is linked with the School of Pharmacy at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). It is also involved in developing content for the Pharmacy MSc courses in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Cork (UCC). Each year the department supports
The Department actively provides lectures and patient-facing experience across various campus and university programmes. We undertake audit work and research, aiming to share results by publications.