Evaluation of mobile cart decentralization.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of mobile cart decentralization of pharmacy services. The specific objectives of this study were to measure and compare (1) the average time to process a medication order and (2) the satisfaction of the nursing personnel with pharmacy services before and after decentralization. After decentralization, the average medication turn-around time decreased from 30 minutes to 12 minutes. Also, survey results indicate that nursing satisfaction with pharmacy services increased significantly after decentralization. This study measures two important benefits of decentralization. The next step is to measure the costs associated with this system.
D002497:Centralized Hospital Services; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D008330:Management Audit; D008510:Medication Systems, Hospital / Q000379:methods*; D009934:Organization and Administration; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014481:United States