RWJ University Hospital

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at New Brunswick is a 620-bed academic medical center whose Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, joint replacement, and women’s and children’s care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital (BMSCH). The hospital treats over 30,000 inpatients and has over 70,000 Emergency Room visits annually. As the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute and the principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, RWJUH-NB is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care. A Level 1 Trauma Center and the first Pediatric Trauma Center in the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

The Pharmacy Department provides decentralized services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by a staff of approximately 160 employees including Pharmacists and Technicians. Specialized pharmaceutical services are provided throughout the hospital with the role of pharmacy in patient care being widely accepted. At RWJUH-NB, the pharmacists serve as active participants in the interdisciplinary healthcare team, participate in all adult and pediatric codes, and are active members on various hospital safety and quality committees. Our Technicians are certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) and are integral members of the pharmacy team. They provide essential support to pharmacists by compounding sterile and non-sterile medications, filling medication orders, optimizing and filling automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs), ensuring medications are barcoded and delivering to patient care areas.

Technology is widely integrated into the Pharmacy Department and includes integration of a hospital-wide Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) with disease specific order sets and safety features such as dose-range checking and maximum allowable doses. ADCs in nursing units, operating rooms, procedural areas and emergency areas are the basis of the unit-based distribution technology employed at RWJUH New Brunswick. The Pharmacy also has an inventory control system utilizing carousel technology and uses internal barcode scanning for accuracy of loading and dispensing from the system. Knowledge-based barcode administration and an electronic intervention reporting system round out the department’s technology.

The Department is supported by a Pediatric Clinical Specialist, two Transplant Pharmacists, an Oncology Clinical Specialist, and five Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy Rutgers University Shared Faculty, who specialize in Critical Care, Drug Information, Emergency Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine. These individuals along with Pharmacy staff support precepting and mentoring two PGY1 Residents, two PGY2 ER Residents, and two PGY2 Drug Information Residents and over 80 students per year. Finally, RWJUH New Brunswick is the primary site for the Health Scholars Institute program of New Brunswick, with many high school students taking an avid career interest as either a Pharmacy Technician or Pharmacist.

Pharmacy Department Goal:
It is the goal of the Hospital Pharmacy Department to provide high quality, comprehensive pharmaceutical services in the area of patient care and to provide recognized, meaningful research and education to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at New Brunswick and the community which it serves. It is the philosophy of the Department not only to function at the highest level of acceptable practice, but to be committed to innovation and development within that practice and to serve as a role model for Institutional Pharmacy Practice.

A dedicated staff and effective management, at all administrative levels, are necessary for the achievement of our goals. This requires planning, budgeting, communication and the development and administration of sound, progressive and equitable personnel policies. The Department will strive to recruit and retain highly qualified and competent staff and is also committed to facilitating professional growth within the department.

RWJ University Hospital Pharmacy Leadership