Asynchronous consult report generation for pharmacogenomic clinical support: Time and motion.

Area of Science:

• Clinical Pharmacy
• Pharmacogenomics
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing is increasingly adopted in clinical settings.
• Clinicians often require support in applying PGx data to patient medication lists due to knowledge gaps.
• Asynchronous written consults offer a potentially efficient method for pharmacists to provide PGx support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish consensus on an optimal workflow for generating asynchronous written PGx consult reports.
• To determine the time required for pharmacists to produce these consults.
• To inform pharmacist training, practice management, and expectation setting for PGx consult services.

Main Methods:

• Four pharmacists developed written PGx consult reports for 18 patient cases over three review rounds.
• Consensus on workflow, processes, and resources was achieved through discussion before each round.
• Time spent on each process step was recorded during the third round.

Main Results:

• Pharmacists reached consensus on an optimal workflow for asynchronous written PGx consult generation.
• Reports for cases with 1-2 PGx-guided medications typically took under 30 minutes.
• Cases requiring guidance for more medications took more than double the time.

Conclusions:

• An optimized workflow for asynchronous written PGx consults was established.
• Time investment for PGx consults is dependent on the number of PGx-guided medications.
• Findings can guide the development of pharmacist training and practice models for PGx services.