Workload measurement in long term care pharmacy

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Healthcare Management
• Health Services Research

Background:

• The Canadian Hospital Pharmacy Workload Measurement System (CHPWMS) provides a framework for measuring pharmacy activities.
• Long-term care (LTC) pharmacy departments require efficient workload measurement tools for resource allocation.
• Implementing standardized workload systems in specialized settings like LTC presents unique challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the implementation of the CHPWMS in a 475-bed long-term care facility.
• To evaluate the system's effectiveness in measuring pharmacy workload and supporting staffing decisions.
• To assess the proportion of reportable versus non-reportable activities and overall productivity.

Main Methods:

• The CHPWMS framework was adapted for a long-term care pharmacy setting.
• A four-month trial was conducted, separating reportable (CHPWMS-defined) and non-reportable activities.
• Standard times were used for reportable units, while actual and adapted standard times were used for non-reportable tasks.

Main Results:

• Eighty percent of the department's workload was captured as reportable units using standard times.
• Dispensing constituted the largest workload component (79%), while manufacturing was the most frequent non-reportable activity.
• The productivity index was 70%, with pharmacist workload aligning with the goal of 50% non-dispensing activities.

Conclusions:

• The CHPWMS implementation was effective in measuring workload within a long-term care pharmacy.
• The system provides valuable data for justifying and monitoring pharmacy staffing levels.
• The consistent data recording indicated strong staff commitment to the workload measurement process.