Identifying factors concerning patient safety and efficiency in outpatient pharmacy

Mishandling of drugs at pharmacies is one of the biggest threats to patient safety. In this area, Human Factors Engineering has been proposed as the key to improving patient safety. The value of this approach was investigated in the context of a local government hospital in Singapore, where in particular was focused on its outpatient pharmacy setting. To many, the extent of interaction at the pharmacy is a drop-off, a pick-up and probably counseling. But what they do not see are the complex interactions that are required to deliver the prescription promptly and correctly. In order to be able to understand the system better, the workflow engine inside the outpatient pharmacy was investigated, in terms of drugs inventory, receiving prescription, typing of labels, packing and dispensing of drugs, where most of the errors, including human errors would be identified in relation to patient safety. These errors, if not identified would cause great harm to patients taking the wrong type of medication which was not prescribed by the doctor. Efficiency on the other hand has to be maintained, or even better, improved. For a pharmacy to function well, both its safety and efficiency issues must be addressed. Recommendations were developed for pharmacy service improvements in the areas of staffing, task stations, equipment and the reshuffling of workflow in an effort to reduce patient waiting time and prescription errors.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering