Personnel requirements for an outpatient chemotherapy admixture service

Chemotherapy preparation times and personnel requirements for an outpatient chemotherapy admixture service (CAS) were determined in this study. CAS activities and time measurement endpoints were identified by process analysis. Direct time studies were performed over a 2-month period on approximately 400 variable (chemotherapy admixture) activities and on their related fixed (auxiliary) activities. Variable activities were divided into four distinct categories based upon the original formulation of the antineoplastic agent and its complexity of admixture. All CAS activities were performed by a pharmacy technician under the supervision of a pharmacist. Mean preparation times for the different categories of variable and fixed activities were determined. Variable, fixed, and estimated nonproductive time were combined with 8 months retrospective output data to determine total weakly CAS service hours and personnel requirements. Variable activity time varied widely among the four categories of admixtures and had an aggregate mean time of 9.7 minutes per admixture. Variable and fixed activity time comprised 13.5 and 4.5 mean weekly service hours, respectively. Total weekly service time was 18 hours or 0.48 full-time equivalents. These results on elemental times and personnel requirements are similar to those obtained in previous studies.