title: A Time and Motion Study of Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Obtaining Admission Medication Histories.
abstract: Pharmacists' admission medication histories (AMHs) are known to reduce adverse drug events (ADEs). Pharmacist-supervised pharmacy technicians (PSPTs) have also been used in this role. Nonetheless, few studies estimate the costs of utilizing PSPTs to obtain AMHs. We used time and motion methodology to study the time and cost required for pharmacists and PSPTs to obtain AMHs for patients at high risk for ADEs. Pharmacists and PSPTs required 58.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 46.9-70.1) and 79.4 (95% CI, 59.1-99.8) minutes per patient, respectively (P = 0.14). PSPT-obtained AMHs also required 26.0 (95% CI, 14.9-37.1) minutes of pharmacist supervision per patient. Based on 2015 US Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, we estimated the cost of having pharmacists and PSPTs obtain AMHs to be $55.91 (95% CI, 44.9-67.0) and $45.00 (95% CI, 29.7-60.4), respectively, which included pharmacist supervisory cost, per patient (P = 0.32). Thus, we found no statistically significant difference in time or cost between the two provider types. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2017;12:180-183.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Services, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Services, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shane
authors.affiliation: RAND Health, Santa Monica, California, USA.|Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Research Informatics Center, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Galen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cook-Wiens
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, CA USA.
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pevnick
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059065:Medication Reconciliation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010596:Pharmacy Technicians / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D013996:Time and Motion Studies