An observational study of the cause and frequency of prescription rework in community pharmacies.

Olden, Frank; Dalton, Kieran

dc.contributor.author	Olden, Frank
dc.contributor.author	Dalton, Kieran
dc.date.accessioned	2024-08-21T16:06:25Z
dc.date.available	2024-08-21T16:06:25Z
dc.date.issued	2023-05-09
dc.identifier.pmid	37160551
dc.identifier.doi	10.1007/s11096-023-01563-3
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10147/642679
dc.description	Background: When prescriptions are being processed in pharmacies, 'rework' is a phenomenon where an activity occurs that requires the return to a prior procedural step in the process for correction. To date, little is known regarding rework prevalence in community pharmacies or how this might be minimised. Aim: To evaluate the cause and frequency of prescription rework in community pharmacies. Method: A list of reworks was designed for community pharmacists to self-record prescription rework instances and causes in their workplace across a two-week period. Community pharmacists in Ireland were recruited via convenience sampling and snowballing. Descriptive statistics were used to assess rework frequency according to the various causes, as well as the pharmacist and pharmacy characteristics. Results: Eight pharmacists participated, recording 325 reworks across 92.9% of the 65 study days (mean 5 reworks/day). The pharmacists' mean ranged from 1.82 to 15 reworks/day. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians alone or together were involved in 72.3% of reworks. The three most common rework categories were involving labelling errors (22.8%), prepared prescriptions which necessitated opening and repackaging (15.1%), and medication owings to patients (13.9%). Conclusion: This study reveals that prescription rework occurs frequently in community pharmacies and has provided an indication of some of the main causes. These findings demonstrate areas where pharmacy staff can address rework and should aid the development of approaches to minimise rework in future - thus decreasing workload and facilitating more time for community pharmacy staff to focus on providing patient care.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.rights	© 2023. The Author(s).
dc.rights	Attribution 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject	Community pharmacies	en_US
dc.subject	EFFICIENCY	en_US
dc.subject	Pharmacists	en_US
dc.subject	prescriptions	en_US
dc.subject	Workflow	en_US
dc.subject	workload	en_US
dc.title	An observational study of the cause and frequency of prescription rework in community pharmacies.	en_US
dc.type	Article	en_US
dc.type	Other	en_US
dc.identifier.eissn	2210-7711
dc.identifier.journal	International journal of clinical pharmacy	en_US
dc.identifier.pmcid	PMC10169171
dc.source.journaltitle	International journal of clinical pharmacy
dc.source.volume	45
dc.source.issue	4
dc.source.beginpage	903
dc.source.endpage	912
refterms.dateFOA	2024-08-21T16:06:27Z
dc.source.country	Netherlands