Characteristics of hospitals and wards studied
| Organisation | A | B | C |
| Hospital type | Teaching | Non-teaching | Teaching |
| Beds | 1590 | 259 | 911 |
| Inpatient prescribing | Typical UK paper drug chart10 | Typical UK paper drug chart but with no section to indicate the maximum dose of drugs given ‘when required’ | Typical UK paper charts but with pre-printed units (g/mg/μg) in the dose sections |
| Discharge prescribing | Almost all computerised | Some computerised and some paper based | Some computerised and some paper based |
| Medical admissions wards | |||
| Wards | 4 wards (69 beds in total) | 1 ward (24 beds) | 1 ward (33 beds) |
| Pharmacist availability on ward | 11 h weekdays, 5.5 h weekends | 3 h weekdays, none at weekends | 2 h weekdays, none at weekends |
| Post-take rounds attended | Post-take rounds attended | Post-take rounds attended | |
| Surgical wards | |||
| Wards | 1 vascular surgery (28 beds) | 2 general surgical wards (33 beds in total) | 1 orthopaedic surgery (26 beds) |
| Pharmacist availability on ward | Visit from pharmacist each weekday and short visit on Saturdays | Visit from pharmacist each weekday | Visit from pharmacist each weekday |