Int J Pharm Pract 2002:10:171-175

Pharmacy Department, Queen's Building, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol
England BS2 8HD

Original Papers

Contribution of a ward-based technician service to delivering effective patient health care and reducing dispensary workload

CLARE CONROY, RICHARD CATTELL and MARY NICHOLLS

Objective — To determine whether introduction of a ward-based technician service reduces medication administration errors and decreases pharmacy workload.

Method — Information on the incidence of unavailable medication administration errors (U-MAEs), number of calls to pharmacy, volume of weekend medicine supply and workload of the non-stock supply (NSS) pharmacist was compared during a two-week period prior to the implementation of a ward-based technician service (control period) and a two-week period after the introduction of the service (study period).

Setting — Five wards (two acute admission wards and three care of the elderly medical wards) at Bristol Royal Infirmary with a perceived high workload.

Key findings — When a ward-based technician service was implemented the number of U-MAEs was almost halved (46 per cent reduction), and there was a 60 per cent reduction in the number of telephone calls from the five pilot wards to the dispensary. Overall, there was a decrease in the number of item requests during the weekend; however, the number of items requested from the non stock supply pharmacist increased from 51 to 58 (14 per cent).

Conclusion — Following the introduction of the ward-based technician service, patient care has improved as medicines are available more reliably, and the work life of the pharmacy team has benefited.