TY - JOUR
T1 - Workload of pharmacists and the performance of pharmacy services
AU - Shao, Shih Chieh
AU - Chan, Yuk Ying
AU - Lin, Swu Jane
AU - Li, Chung Yi
AU - Yang, Yea Huei Kao
AU - Chen, Yi Hua
AU - Chen, Hui Yu
AU - Lai, Edward Chia Cheng
N1 - Funding Information:
This study received a Grant from Chang Gung Medical Foundation (ID:CMRPG3H1552) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (107-2320-B-006-070-MY3), which had no role in design, analysis, interpretation, reporting of results or the decision to develop this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Shao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2020/4
Y1 - 2020/4
N2 - Objective To evaluate the influence of pharmacists’ dispensing workload (PDW) on pharmacy services as measured by prescription suggestion rate (PSR) and dispensing error rate (DER). Method This was an observational study in northern and southern Taiwan’s two largest medical centers, from 2012 to 2018. We calculated monthly PDW as number of prescriptions divided by number of pharmacist working days. We used monthly PSR and DER as outcome indicators for pharmacists’ review and dispensing services, respectively. We used Poisson regression model with generalized estimation equation methods to evaluate the influence of PDW on PSR and DER. Results The monthly mean of 463,587 (SD 32,898) prescriptions yielded mean PDW, PSR and DER of 52 (SD 3) prescriptions per pharmacist working days, 30 (SD 7) and 8 (SD 2) per 10,000 prescriptions monthly, respectively. There was significant negative impact of PDW on PSR (adjusted rate ratio, aRR: 0.9786; 95%CI: 0.9744–0.9829) and DER (aRR: 0.9567; 95%CI: 0.9477–0.9658). Stratified analyses by time periods (2012–2015 and 2016–2018) revealed the impact of PDW on PSR to be similar in both periods; but with positive association between PDW and DER in the more recent one (aRR: 1.0086, 95%CI: 1.0003–1.0169). Conclusions Reduced pharmacist workload was associated with re-allocation of pharmacy time to provide prescription suggestions and, more recently, decrease dispensing errors. Continuous efforts to maintain appropriate workload for pharmacists are recommended to ensure prescription quality.
AB - Objective To evaluate the influence of pharmacists’ dispensing workload (PDW) on pharmacy services as measured by prescription suggestion rate (PSR) and dispensing error rate (DER). Method This was an observational study in northern and southern Taiwan’s two largest medical centers, from 2012 to 2018. We calculated monthly PDW as number of prescriptions divided by number of pharmacist working days. We used monthly PSR and DER as outcome indicators for pharmacists’ review and dispensing services, respectively. We used Poisson regression model with generalized estimation equation methods to evaluate the influence of PDW on PSR and DER. Results The monthly mean of 463,587 (SD 32,898) prescriptions yielded mean PDW, PSR and DER of 52 (SD 3) prescriptions per pharmacist working days, 30 (SD 7) and 8 (SD 2) per 10,000 prescriptions monthly, respectively. There was significant negative impact of PDW on PSR (adjusted rate ratio, aRR: 0.9786; 95%CI: 0.9744–0.9829) and DER (aRR: 0.9567; 95%CI: 0.9477–0.9658). Stratified analyses by time periods (2012–2015 and 2016–2018) revealed the impact of PDW on PSR to be similar in both periods; but with positive association between PDW and DER in the more recent one (aRR: 1.0086, 95%CI: 1.0003–1.0169). Conclusions Reduced pharmacist workload was associated with re-allocation of pharmacy time to provide prescription suggestions and, more recently, decrease dispensing errors. Continuous efforts to maintain appropriate workload for pharmacists are recommended to ensure prescription quality.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0231482
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0231482
M3 - Article
C2 - 32315319
AN - SCOPUS:85083570969
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 4
M1 - e0231482
ER -