Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan ELY (1), Wong VKC (1), Lai EOL (1), Tsoi HHY (1), Lui WWY (1), Cheung ECY (1), Tong TKF (1), Cho AWY (1), Chiu FPH (1), NG PH (1), Chiu FH(2), Wong HSY (1), Kong HS (1), Chui WCM (1)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Pharmacy, Queen Mary Hospital, (2)Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital
Introduction :
In high-risk and high-volume wards, suboptimal medication management and heavy workload lengthen hospital stay and jeopardize medication safety. To enhance medication management in wards, Ward Dispenser Service was piloted in two medical admission wards in Queen Mary Hospital.
Objectives :
1. To assess the impact of Ward Dispenser Service on hospital beds turnover rate
2. To evaluate nursing staffs satisfaction towards Ward Dispenser Service
Methodology :
A service-based pilot study was conducted in two medical admission wards in Queen Mary Hospital from July 2019 to October 2019. This study involved deploying trained dispensers to provide medication management services at ward level. The major duties of Ward Dispensers include: (1) managing medication trolley and ward return in wards, (2) facilitating the handling of discharge and transfer prescriptions, and (3) answering and following-up drug-related technical issues.
Service efficiency was measured by comparing the estimated discharge time of patients requiring Non-Emergency Ambulance Transfer Service (NEATS) with Ward Dispenser Service in October 2019 with the one without this service in October 2018. Mann-Whitney U test was used to detect any statistically significant difference on the estimated discharge time between the two periods.
Nursing staffs satisfaction survey was conducted in September 2019.
Result & Outcome :
For service efficiency, 44 and 83 patient subjects were screened during the pre- and post-implementation period, respectively. The estimated discharge time for NEATS patients with Ward Dispenser Service (median: 48 minutes) was significantly shorter than that without Ward Dispenser Service (median: 113.5 minutes), P< 0.001.
Regarding nursing staffs satisfaction, a total of 24 surveys were collected from the two wards, representing 89% of the total nursing staffs manpower of the two wards. Our results demonstrated high satisfaction rate towards Ward Dispenser Service by nursing staffs, particularly in shortening discharge time (96%), better communication with pharmacy (92%), and alleviating nursing staffs workload (87.5%). 23 out of 24 respondents (96%) agreed that the service should be extended to other wards.
This pilot Ward Dispenser Service study showed significant reduction in discharge time for NEATS patients and the service was highly welcomed by nursing staffs.
