Clinical Pharmacist Staffing Levels Needed to Deliver Clinical Services in Australian Hospitals

O’Leary, Karen; Stuchbery, Peter; Taylor, George

doi:10.1002/j.2055-2335.2010.tb00542.x

Cited by 14 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…total of 24% of time. 12 The difference in time spent walking or travelling within the hospital (4% difference) may be explained by the use of satellite pharmacies in our study. Both studies reported significant non-productive time; there is potential for the eMMs to impact this area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…In a subsequent analysis based on data from Stuchbery et al 11 Nonetheless, it is interesting to compare some of the assumptions made in the analyses of Stuchbery's data with the observational data from our study. 11,12 The average time to undertake medication history interview on admission was 11.3 minutes and medication order review required 2 to 3 minutes in our study compared to 10 minutes and 3.5 minutes by Stuchbery et al 11 In terms of non-productive time, pharmacists in our study spent 5.2% walking, 3.1% looking for something and 6.9% in meetings, i.e. total of 15% of time, compared with the assumptions used in the analysis of Stuchbery's data of 9.2% of time spent travelling within the hospital, 9.2% of time at staff meetings and 5.2% of time listed as 'unproductive time' i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do Clinical Pharmacists spend their Working Day? A Time‐and‐Motion Study

Clifford¹,

Blewitt²,

Lam³

et al. 2012

Pharmacy Practice and Res

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Background Our health service is introducing an electronic medication management system (eMMs). Obtaining baseline data on the work patterns of pharmacists will allow assessment of the impact of the eMMs on pharmacists' work patterns. Aim To quantify the time clinical pharmacists spend on various activities over their working day prior to the implementation of an eMMs. Method During this continuous observational time‐and‐motion study (23 November to 17 December 2009), clinical pharmacists assigned to general medical and surgical wards were shadowed by two independent observers over their entire working days. A customised Access application was used to log times and calculate average times spent on each activity. Other data collected included time from admission to interview and opportunities for medication chart review. Results 9 pharmacists were observed for 265.3 hours over 30 separate pharmacist observation days. Clinical activities (56% of total time) included professional communication (20%), medication chart review (9.6%), medication history interview (9.5%), clinical review (9.1%), providing information to patients/carers (5.5%), ascertaining discharge drugs required (1.6%), and obtaining drug information (0.5%). Non‐clinical activities (44% of total time) included social activities/breaks (13%), meetings (6.9%), ordering/distribution (6.6%), discharge dispensing (6.3%), walking between wards/pharmacy (5.2%), looking for something (3.1%), and other activities (2.8%). On an average day, each pharmacist reviewed 21 of a possible 38 medication charts (55%), spent 20 minutes on clinical interventions and completed 4.5 medication history interviews. Average time from admission to interview was 67 hours. 18% of pharmacists' time was taken up with discharge/transfer of patients. Most patients 130/141 (93%) at discharge did not require further medication history clarification. Conclusion This study provides baseline data for comparison of the impact of the eMMs on pharmacist workflow.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do Clinical Pharmacists spend their Working Day? A Time‐and‐Motion Study

Clifford¹,

Blewitt²,

Lam³

et al. 2012

Pharmacy Practice and Res

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“…O'Leary et al . reported that in Australia, the time needed by clinical pharmacists to undertake medication history interview with medication reconciliation for a patient on average was 10.2 min (5.5–14.6) . However the study also reports other clinical activities of a clinical pharmacist in a medical ward, namely interventions, medication order review, clinical review, therapeutic drug monitoring, drug information and monitoring adverse drug reactions that would require a minimum of 38 min per patient of a pharmacist's time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Descriptive statistics were used to summarise results. We calculated the hours spent in wards by clinical pharmacists by the standard adopted; generally 47% of the full time equivalent pharmacist's time should support ward based care . This study was approved by the HNE Area Ethics Committee (Reference REC/10/HNE/330).…”

Section: Patient Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medication reconciliation at two teaching hospitals in Australia: a missed opportunity?

Athuraliya

Sarunac

Robertson

2017

Internal Medicine Journal

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Medication reconciliation prevents medication related harm at patient hospitalisation. This cross-sectional study demonstrated that the Hunter New England Health Admission Medication History Form that supports the two processes is underutilised in two hospitals in New South Wales with many doctors unaware of the form and pharmacists facing understaffing and time constraints for completing it. Triaging of patients and, more collaboration between doctors and pharmacists are required for efficient in-hospital medication reconciliation.

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“…However, that was a ‘paper‐based’ exercise in which two pharmacists reviewed each patient with unlimited time and no competing patient care priorities, so it probably represents the best case scenario. In this ‘real world’ study, the pharmacists were under considerable time pressure, with patient loads that are likely to have limited their capacity to conduct comprehensive medication reviews for all patients 19 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%