Successful use of problem-solving methodology to reduce pharmacy chemotherapy processing time

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Healthcare Operations
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Hospital pharmacies face challenges with high compounded chemotherapy order volumes, leading to staff overload during peak hours.
• This overload contributes significantly to extended patient wait times and impacts overall pharmacy turnaround time (TAT).

Purpose of the Study:

• To reduce pharmacy turnaround time (TAT) and compounding order overload during peak hours.
• To decrease patient wait times for pharmacy services without compromising safety and quality.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a "Concierge" initiative involving advanced preparation of chemotherapy for select patients.
• Utilized Define Measure Analyze Improve Control (DMAIC) Six Sigma methodology and intelligent risk-taking strategies to identify and address root causes.

Main Results:

• Pharmacy TAT decreased by 77% for Concierge patients and 31% for standard patients.
• Patient wait time decreased by 67% for Concierge patients and 27% for standard patients.
• Observed an 8% increase in patient capacity despite no changes in physical infrastructure.

Conclusions:

• The Concierge initiative markedly reduced pharmacy TAT and patient wait times, particularly for chemotherapy services.
• Improved workflow efficiency and staff assignment distribution, leading to decreased order overload and enhanced patient throughput.
• Successfully maintained safety and quality standards while increasing the number of patients treated daily.