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Improving accuracy in simulated pharmacy assembly tasks using workspace interventions to enhance the cognitive
Kraig L Schell1, Sean Reilley, Anthony F Grasha
1Department of Psychology, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX 76909, USA. Kraig.Schell@angelo.edu
Perceptual and Motor Skills
|July 2, 2003
Summary
Two pharmacy interventions, copy strips and product sleeves, improved medication order accuracy in a simulated setting. Both interventions enhanced data entry and product selection, reducing errors compared to no intervention.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy practice and medication safety.
- Human factors engineering in healthcare settings.
- Workplace intervention effectiveness.
Background:
- Medication errors pose a significant risk in pharmacy practice.
- Work environment design can influence task performance and error rates.
- Simulated environments allow for controlled testing of interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the error-reducing effectiveness of two distinct work-environment interventions in a simulated pharmacy order-filling task.
- To compare the impact of a monitor-mounted copy strip versus a combination of copy strips and labeled product sleeves on accuracy.
- To identify potential explanations for observed differences or similarities in intervention effectiveness.
Main Methods:
- A controlled laboratory study involving 110 participants simulating pharmacy order filling.
- Interventions included a monitor-mounted copy strip for data entry and labeled product sleeves for product selection.
- Participants completed approximately 110 simulated drug orders over 3-4 hours in a controlled environment.
Main Results:
- Both the copy strip intervention and the combined copy strip/product sleeve intervention significantly improved order-filling accuracy compared to the control group.
- No statistically significant difference in accuracy was found between the group using only copy strips and the group using both copy strips and product sleeves.
- The interventions demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing data entry and product selection accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Work-environment interventions, such as copy strips and product sleeves, can effectively reduce errors in simulated pharmacy tasks.
- While both interventions improved accuracy, the addition of product sleeves did not yield further significant accuracy gains over copy strips alone.
- Further research is warranted to explore the nuances of these interventions and their real-world applicability in diverse pharmacy settings.