Patient-focused work redesign: hospital and pharmacy department restructuring.

Patient-focused care is a new way of doing business in hospitals. Work redesign initiatives can be an opportunity or a threat to established pharmacy structures. Seizing the opportunity, pharmacy departments can use redesign efforts to implement pharmaceutical care. Key features of a redesign initiative include vision development, objective setting, and defined operating strategy elements. This article describes the process used in a patient-focused care initiative at MultiCare Medical Center and its Department of Pharmacy Services, Tacoma, Washington.