Pharmacy

Robert B. MacArthur, Pharm.D., Director

In-patient and Out-patient Dispensing
New York State Psychiatric Institute pharmacy plays a critical role in medical care of in-patients of the PI hospital and community out-patients. We provide pharmaceutical care services to a diverse population of people. We fill medication cassettes for PI hospital’s three in-patient units, WHCS, SRU and GCRU. We also fill out-patient prescriptions for patients treated in the two community service clinics, Audubon and Inwood.

Our service to the patients and medical community does not end there. The pharmacists at NYSPI provide counseling for patients on the use of their medicine, as well as information on the use of over-the-counter preparations and herbal medicines. Every prescription filled at our pharmacy is checked for interactions with other medications, for appropriateness of therapy and timely refills.

Equipped with the latest resources, we answer a variety of questions from medical staff on all types of information about pharmaceutical products and their availability. We will assist with finding the latest drug information in all areas of medication use, dosing, interactions, warnings, and availability of formulary alternatives.

We publish NYSPI Pharmacy and Columbia Research Pharmacy Newsletter, which is full of useful and interesting information on new approved drugs, important drug interactions and updated prescribing information, changes in pharmacy law and practice, our latest projects and achievements and other related healthcare news.

The NYSPI Drug Monitoring Committee develops and maintains NYSPI drug formulary. Our formulary is a complete selection of medications available for the treatment of PI patients. It consists of a complete selection of psychotropic medications, including the latest approved neuroleptics, antidepressants and other agents on the market, as well as medications from other therapeutic classes: antihypertensives, hypoglycemics, antibiotics, pain medications, topical preparations and others. Wide selection of drug therapy in NYSPI formulary helps to make patients’ medical care as complete as possible.

New Endeavors
Overall the scope of the research services provided by the collaboration between the CPMC Research Pharmacy continues to expand. The number of active research projects exceeds 200, and is spread among three sites on the Columbia - NYSPI campus. Besides Psychiatry, staff pharmacists are involved in projects in several therapeutic areas including Pediatric and Adult Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Neurology, Alzheimer’s disease, Neurology, Cardiology, Endocrinology and others. We have also begun to act as a central packaging, randomization, and distribution center for several federally funded studies.