The Study to Enhance Efficiency of Medication Dispensary Process for Outpatient Department, Pharmaceutical Division, Khumket Building, Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital

Abstract

This research seeks to analyze hinderances in the medication dispensary process for Outpatient Pharmacy at Khumket Building, Bhumibol Adulyadeja hospital, and to apply industrial engineering principles to increase procedural efficiency through reduction of dispensary error and patient’s waiting time. The research framework includes (1) examination of the working environment of the Outpatient Pharmacy (2) the study of the nature of issues occurring during the dispensary process (3) troubleshooting method and procedural modification employed according to the researcher’s provided guidance (4) accumulation and analyzation of dispensary error data both before and after the pharmacy process revision, and (5) summary of data analysis. From the research, the root cause of the long waiting time for medication dispensary originates from the error in pharmaceutical packaging. The researcher utilizes ergonomics principles, which are industrial engineering techniques, to improve dispensary process by introducing a coding system imprinted on the top right of the medication packages. The codes on the packages are matched with pharmaceutical storage cabinets using the same coding system. The data collected from January - August 2016 is divided into two periods; the period before the dispensary process modification (January-April) and the period afterwards (May-August). The dispensary record is used as data collection tool whereas the data analysis is completed using statistical assessments. The research indicates a total reduction of 25.39 % in dispensary error and the decrease in patient’s waiting time, which equals to approximately 138.4 minutes.