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The use of ScriptPro's SP 200 has led to increased staff satisfaction at Lincoln Community Health Center's pharmacy. |
Increasing Staff Satisfaction through Automation
By Carolyn Robbins, PharmD, RPh, CDE
Lincoln Community Health Center serves a patient population of
over 35,000 and fills 800 to 1,000 prescriptions a day. In addition
to high volume, perhaps our most compelling reason to automate
was the reduction of medication
errors. In November 2001, we
installed ScriptPro’s SP 200
Robotic Prescription Dispensing
System. Then, in January 2002, we
installed ScriptPro’s SP Central
Workflow Management System
along with SP Checkpoints with
barcode scanners for prescription
verification, tracking, and management,
and three SP Stations with
touch-screen monitors, barcode
scanners, and labeling devices for
manually filled prescriptions.
The positive impact of ScriptPro’s robotic and workflow technology
is measurable. We have tracked a significant and steady
decrease in medication errors (now less than .01%) due to the technology’s
ability to prevent wrong-patient, wrong-dose, and wrong-drug
errors. By scanning the barcode on a stock bottle and then on
the SP 200 drug cell, the system will confirm that we are filling the
robot accurately. We verify each
filled prescription by scanning its
barcode and performing a visual
check with an on-screen picture of
the drug. The SP Stations can also
provide on-screen picture verifications
of the drugs, providing
another accuracy check for our
staff members.
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The pharmacy's staff can use their SP Checkpoints to track prescriptions throughout the pharmacy. |
To ensure that the right patient
receives the right drug, the
SP Station, using SP Central
Workflow, batches prescriptions
by patient. Then, when we scan a
prescription label, all prescriptions for the patient appear onscreen,
and we can easily verify that we are giving the right patient
the right prescriptions. The batching feature is especially helpful when servicing patients with the same or similar names, which may have been confused
before the ScriptPro implementation.
Automating our pharmacy has also reduced our patients’ wait time by about 16%,
even as our prescription-fill rate increased by 8%. Because a prescription’s barcode is
scanned at each step in the fill process, our staff can use the SP Checkpoints to track
prescriptions throughout the pharmacy, whether they are stored in the refrigerator, the
new will-call area, the refill will-call area, in oversized-bag shelves, or if they are still
being filled. When a patient approaches the pick-up window, we are able to easily identify
the location of each of his or her prescriptions and determine whether they are
ready to be picked up, or if it will be a few more minutes.
In addition, the decrease in work-related stress for our staff is unbelievably satisfying.
We polled the pharmacy staff before implementing ScriptPro’s technology, and our staff
was obviously dissatisfied with their stressful workload. In a post-implementation poll,
100% of our pharmacists and technicians stated their work environment had improved.
They cited the following reasons: greater confidence in the accuracy of prescriptions;
ability to locate prescriptions; reduced manual selection and counting of tablets and capsules;
assurance that patients receive all of their medications; assurance that multiple
patients’ medications are not mixed in the same bag; and online picture identification of
all drugs, even drugs outside our formulary.
We chose ScriptPro’s equipment for its compact footprint; 24-hour, seven-days-aweek
support service; and the upfront and on-site training. The workflow analysis and
design provided by ScriptPro’s team were also extremely helpful. By following
ScriptPro’s recommended procedures for daily and weekly maintenance, we continue to
operate without a hitch. Furthermore, ScriptPro continually upgrades our equipment as
part of our standard service agreement.
Carolyn Robbins, PharmD, RPh, CDE, is the director of pharmacy for Lincoln
Community Health Center and the assistant director of pharmacy for Durham
Regional Hospital/Duke University Health System, both in Durham, North Carolina.
She has worked for the health system for 28 years.
For more information about this and other automation studies, visit our Studies section.
