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Exploring information chaos in community pharmacy handoffs
Michelle A Chui1, Jamie A Stone
1School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2513 Rennebohm Hall, 777 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53705, USA.
Research in Social & Administrative Pharmacy : RSAP
|May 14, 2013
Summary
Community pharmacy handoffs create information hazards like errors and overload, leading to chaos and impacting patient care. Addressing these hazards is crucial for improving pharmacist workflow and safety.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy Practice
- Health Informatics
- Human Factors Engineering
Background:
- Community pharmacy handoffs involve transferring patient drug therapy information between pharmacists, typically during shift changes.
- Current handoff information is often unstructured and variable, contributing to pharmacist stress, prescription delays, and medication errors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and classify the specific information hazards encountered during community pharmacy handoffs.
- To develop a framework for understanding information chaos in pharmacy practice.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative research utilizing semi-structured interviews with community pharmacists (floaters and those in busy pharmacies).
- Systematic content data analysis to identify recurring themes and categories of information hazards.
- Grounded the analysis in human factors and ergonomics principles.
Main Results:
- Identified five categories of information hazards: erroneous information, information overload, underload, scatter, and conflict.
- These hazards routinely lead to 'information chaos,' increasing mental workload and the risk of prescriptions being missed.
- Consequences include potential negative impacts on patient care and pharmacist well-being.
Conclusions:
- Pharmacy handoffs are a significant source of information hazards that disrupt workflow.
- These hazards divert pharmacists' attention from critical tasks like prescription assessment and patient education.
- Further research is needed to systematically eliminate these hazards from the pharmacy handoff process.
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