Article type
Abstract
Background: Improving the safety record of healthcare services is an important priority all around the world. Near-miss dispensing is defined as dispensing error detected inside pharmacy without distribution to patients. Identifying the causes to the dispensing near miss can point out and improve vulnerabilities in health services systems, but the frequency of occurrence timing of near-miss dispensing remain unknown in Taiwan.
Objectives: This study aimed to describe the frequency of occurrence timing in dispensing near-miss and then compare the dispensing workload in different occurrence timing. The near-miss data were obtained from the electronic database between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2016 in Chang Gung Medical Foundation in Taiwan which consists of 8 hospitals.
Methods: Methods include determining the number of prescriptions dispensed during peak hour and the time of occurrence of the near-miss in outpatient pharmacies. Incidence rate of near miss, dispensing workload, and the number of near-miss dispensed by each pharmacist in each hour were calculated. Dispensing workload is defined as number of prescriptions dispensed by each pharmacist per hour.
Results: This analysis included 2 669 044 prescriptions and 3077 (0.12%) of them were reported to be near-miss dispensing. The maximum (SD) dispensing workload per hour was 38.5(21.4), and the number of dispensing near miss per pharmacist in each hour was 0.007 (0.001). Dispensing near-miss occurred more frequently at 9:00-10:00 am (0.018) and 1:00-2:00 pm (0.017)
Conclusions: We found different frequency of occurrence timing in near-miss dispensing, and it may be associated with higher dispensing workload at these intervals. The near-miss dispensing occurred more frequently in the outpatient pharmacies at 9:00-11:00 am and 01:00-03:00 pm. To ensure patient drug safety, potential factors leading to frequent occurrence timing of near-miss dispensing needs to be explored and further improvements in pharmacy systems should be reoriented to eliminate excessive dispensing workload within different hours.
Objectives: This study aimed to describe the frequency of occurrence timing in dispensing near-miss and then compare the dispensing workload in different occurrence timing. The near-miss data were obtained from the electronic database between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2016 in Chang Gung Medical Foundation in Taiwan which consists of 8 hospitals.
Methods: Methods include determining the number of prescriptions dispensed during peak hour and the time of occurrence of the near-miss in outpatient pharmacies. Incidence rate of near miss, dispensing workload, and the number of near-miss dispensed by each pharmacist in each hour were calculated. Dispensing workload is defined as number of prescriptions dispensed by each pharmacist per hour.
Results: This analysis included 2 669 044 prescriptions and 3077 (0.12%) of them were reported to be near-miss dispensing. The maximum (SD) dispensing workload per hour was 38.5(21.4), and the number of dispensing near miss per pharmacist in each hour was 0.007 (0.001). Dispensing near-miss occurred more frequently at 9:00-10:00 am (0.018) and 1:00-2:00 pm (0.017)
Conclusions: We found different frequency of occurrence timing in near-miss dispensing, and it may be associated with higher dispensing workload at these intervals. The near-miss dispensing occurred more frequently in the outpatient pharmacies at 9:00-11:00 am and 01:00-03:00 pm. To ensure patient drug safety, potential factors leading to frequent occurrence timing of near-miss dispensing needs to be explored and further improvements in pharmacy systems should be reoriented to eliminate excessive dispensing workload within different hours.