title: Association between hospital size and pharmacy department productivity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were to characterize and quantify workload and productivity in hospitals according to their size, to establish comparative statistics useful for pharmacy administrators as a means to contrast their efficiency to that of other hospitals of similar sizes, and to provide data to enable policymakers to better assess staffing and resource needs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 50-item Web-based survey designed to illicit information about pharmacy department staffing, workload, and productivity was sent electronically to 242 members of Consorta, Inc., a group-purchasing organization. Responses were received from 110 organizations, a response rate of 45.5%. The responses were categorized into three groups according to the number of staffed beds and were profiled and compared using descriptive and inferential statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pharmacy department workload and expenditures were primarily a function of hospital size: Hospital volume statistics, pharmacy expenditures, hours of operation, pharmacy full-time equivalents (FTEs), and dispensing workload all are highly dependent on the size of the facility. The range of clinical services provided by small, medium, and large hospitals did not differ with the exception of a few services provided more often in larger hospitals. Overall productivity ratios demonstrated greater efficiency among larger hospitals. In terms of costs, pharmacy and hospital expenditures per occupied bed and per admission generally decreased as hospital size increased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of a survey suggested consistency in clinical services provided by hospitals of varying size and increased productivity with increasing hospital size. Respondents employed fewer FTEs than those in other national surveys.
authors.affiliation: Center for Pharmacoeconomic Research and Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) 60612, and Saint Clare's Hospital, Denville, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Shiraz R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Jeffrey E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wojtynek
authors.forename: Surrey M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.forename: Joseph T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Botticelli
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: Juliana E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Quad
authors.forename: Glen T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Schumock
mesh_terms: D001509:Bed Occupancy; D003625:Data Collection; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D016526:Workload