Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Tracking Microbial Contamination in Retail Environments Using Fluorescent Powder - A Retail Delicatessen Environment Example
Published on: March 5, 2014
Analysis of grocery chain pharmacists' work-related behaviors
L Dupclay1, M T Rupp, R W Bennett
1Department of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1335, USA. ldupclay@omni.cc.purdue.edu
Objective:
To measure grocery chain pharmacists' work-related behaviors to assess the impact of a Pharmaceutical Care Certificate Program (PCCP) and other future interventions intended to alter pharmacists' practice behaviors.
Design:
This study used multidimensional work sampling (MWS), a work measurement methodology that breaks "work" into three components: activity (what was done), contact (with whom the activity was performed), and function (the purpose or objective of the activity). Pharmacists were signaled at random intervals during the workday by a random signal generator. A selection was made from a list of items in each of the three dimensions of work to form an activity-contact-function combination code that described the work-related behavior at that point in time.
Setting And Participants:
Pharmacists in 15 grocery chain stores in the Indianapolis area; 20 pharmacists were enrolled in Purdue University's PCCP and 10 served as controls. Data were collected for a period of six weeks during April through June 1997 before the beginning of the PCCP program.
Main Outcome Measures:
Pharmacists' work-related behaviors.
Results:
Writing/keyboarding was the most frequently recorded activity (22%), followed by one-to-one meetings (21.6%), and drug preparation (18%). Pharmacists spent most of their time working alone (62.9%), while a smaller but still substantial proportion of time was spent interacting with patients (17.9%). The most frequently recorded purpose (i.e., function) of pharmacists' activities was drug distribution (23.9%), followed by personal time (12.4%), receiving or transferring a medication order (10.2%), and patient counseling (6.6%). Out of a possible, 1,760 activity-contact-function combinations, 10 accounted for 46.3% of all reported observations, with "Prepare drug-Self-Drug distribution" representing the most frequently recorded activity-contact-function combination (15.7%).
Conclusion:
MWS is useful in helping grocery chain management better understand how pharmacy personnel are currently being utilized. This study provides a baseline for evaluating the impact of training programs or other alterations in the practice environment on pharmacists' work-related behaviors.
Related Concept Videos
Social Loafing
Analysis of Population Pharmacokinetic Data
Analysis Methods of Pharmacokinetic Data: Model and Model-Independent Approaches
The model approach uses mathematical models to describe changes in drug concentration over time. Pharmacokinetic models help characterize drug behavior in patients, predict drug concentration in the body fluids, calculate optimum dosage regimens, and evaluate the risk of toxicity. However, ensuring that the model fits the experimental data accurately...
Model-Independent Approaches for Pharmacokinetic Data: Noncompartmental Analysis
One important characteristic of noncompartmental analyses is that drug exposure increases proportionally with increasing doses. This relationship...
Pharmacokinetic–Pharmacodynamic Relationship: Problems
Pharmaceutical Poisoning: Potential Scenarios

