[A study of the pharmacist work changes associated with dispensing unit-of-use packaging in community pharmacies].
This study aimed to determine how much time can be saved with the use of unit-of-use packaging for prescription drugs as compared with bulk packaging in community pharmacies as well as to determine the number of errors. In a simulation, mock prescriptions were dispensed either in unit-of-use packages or by transferring medication from a bulk container, and a time study was conducted to measure the time spent on dispensing and prescription auditing by pharmacists. Pharmacists' and patients' degree of satisfaction was also surveyed. The time saved with unit-of-use packaging was 66.25 s per prescription. The sole dispensing error that was found in the study occurred with bulk dispensing. Among both pharmacists and patients, many were of the opinion that dispensing with unit-of-use packaging was preferable to bulk dispensing. Unit-of-use packaging shortens the time that pharmacists spend on dispensing activities and increases the efficiency of their work. Unit-of-use packaging is also thought to reduce the number of counting errors.
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Meijo University.
Daisuke
D
Kobayashi
Hiroyuki
H
Sakamaki
Ryou
R
Komatsu
Tomonori
T
Iijima
Yasunori
Y
Iijima
Hiroyuki
H
Ootsuga
Katsuya
K
Saito
Tetsuya
T
Seki
Hidetoshi
H
Nakamura
Tomoyuki
T
Yamaura
Kuniaki
K
Yokobayashi
D004349:Drug Packaging / Q000379:methods*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010594:Pharmacies; D010595:Pharmacists; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D013997:Time Factors
D055553:Prescription Drugs