Reducing waiting times in outpatient pharmacy services at Nong Khai hospital

Abstract

Outpatient pharmacy services involve multiple steps to ensure accurate and safe medication dispensing, which can lead to prolonged patient waiting times. This issue has resulted in complaints regarding delays in medication delivery. The aim of this study was to improve outpatient pharmacy services. The study employed an action research design. Data were collected from the hospital's computer system and meeting reports. Descriptive statistics were used for general data, and the Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square test were used to compare waiting times before and after the service improvements. The study results indicated that the development of the outpatient pharmacy system encompassed four key areas: (1) Staff management to ensure appropriate staffing levels relative to patient volume; (2) Workflow management, which included implementing an express queue system, rotating personnel at prescription entry and drug dispensing stations, reviewing and improving the drug coding system, and revising drug dosage calculation tables; (3) Materials and equipment management by maintaining an adequate and readily available stock of medications; and (4) Facility management through the addition of more drug dispensing counters. As a result, the average outpatient medication waiting time decreased significantly from 63.90 minutes (SD = 42.63) to 48.06 minutes (SD = 31.74), a reduction of 15.84 minutes (p < 0.001). The proportion of patients receiving medications in less than 20 minutes increased from 10.21% to 18.70% (p < 0.001), while the proportion waiting more than 60 minutes decreased from 42.30% to 29.40% (p < 0.001). In conclusion, effective management of personnel, workflow, materials, and facility conditions significantly reduced outpatient medication waiting times.