Page 181 - HA Convention 2015

Service Priorities and Programmes Free Papers

SPP6.4 Managing Service Demands 10:45 Room 221

Better, Faster, Safer Workflow in Pharmacy
Chiang SC, Lam SYB, Wong CHI, Chung FF, Wong CYJ, Wong KYK
Chief Pharmacist’s Office, Hospital Authority Head Office, Hong Kong

Introduction

In Hong Kong, paper medical adminstratration record (MAR) is used to support the inpatient medication management
process for over 20 years in all Hospital Authority hospitals. In pharmacy, with the workflow of paper MAR, no workload
prioritisation can be applied. Fax MAR can be out-of-date. Dispensed drugs may be ended in the ward at the time of
dispensing. Drug return can be an issue in all inpatient pharmacies. With the development of Inpatient Medication Order
Entry (IPMOE) System in HA, the workflow in pharmacy is re-engineered to achieve the better, faster and safer outcome.

Objectives

To modernise the inpatient medication management process in pharmacies with IPMOE to achieve better, faster and safer
outcome.

Methodology Tuesday, 19 May

In IPMOE, a close-the-loop medication management design is adopted. The workflow in pharmacy is re-engineered
to cope with the patients’ need and increasing service demand. With IPMOE, all prescriptions will be updated to the
pharmacy module instantly. Pharmacist can access the complete medication profile clinical verification. Patient safety can
be enhanced. With the enhanced system conversion and mapping logic, prescriptions can be automatically converted to
the dispensing details. Dispensing practices can be standardised. Manual transcription can be reduced by 95%. Risk of
transcription error can be much reduced. Instead of using the fax in time, pharmacy will prioritise the workload in accordance
with the drug administering due time. The more urgent the order is, the higher priority will be assigned. Just in time
dispensing become possible. The drug will be available in the ward at the time of drug administering. For label management
function, the most updated information will be used at the time of label printing. Drugs will be sent to the new ward if the
patient is transferred. No drug will be dispensed if the patient is discharged. Ended order will be screened out. Modified
order will be dispensed with the most updated information. With these new checkings at different dispensing check-point,
dispensing of inactive order can be minimised. Ward return can be reduced. Work redundancy in dispensing ended orders
and processing ward return can be reduced. With technology, the time of different dispenisng checkpoint can be captured in
the system - time of clincial verification, label printing, checking, send out. Checking and tracing of each drug order become
possible. Communication between nurses and pharmacy staff on drug status enquiry can be improved.

Results

With the re-engineered workflow in inpatient pharmacy, 90% of drug can be made available at the ward before the drug
administering due time. The turn around time of the drug dispensing process can be shortened. Transcription can be reduced
by over 95%. Risk of transcription error can be reduced. Number of near misses is reduced in one hospital review. A better,
faster, safer outcome can be achieved with the modernised workflow in pharmacy with IPMOE.

HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2015

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