Standard time in outpatient dispensing service using stopwatch time technique

Abstract

There are many elements during drug dispensing in pharmacy outpatient service. Due to the limita-tion of manpower, these steps can be time consumed during rush hour. The aim of this study is therefore to identify the standard time and to determine the manpower of working during rush hour in the pharmacy outpatient service at Sappasitthiprasong Hospital, Ubon Ratchathani. Materials and Method: The cross sectional descriptive study was conducted using stopwatch time technique and fl yback timing to identify the standard time of outpatient dispensing with 5 elements including prescription typing, labeling, fi lling, checking and dispensing. Subjects were pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and pharmacy technicians who were qualifi ed workers in each step. Data were collected during rush hour (10.00 am -13.00 pm) from Monday to Friday. Manpower was also determined using standard time together with numbers of work unit and work hours per operator in 1 year. Results: The standard time of drug dispensing for a prescription containing 4-5 items of medications was 311.71 seconds (5.19 minutes). The longest and shortest work elements were prescription fi lling with mean standard time of 94.96 seconds (1.58 minutes) and labeling with mean standard time of 16.74 seconds (0.28 minutes), respectively or 30.46 percent and 5.37 percent of the total standard time for outpatient dispensing. In addition, the manpower in outpatient dispensing service during rush hour required 2.75 pharmacists, 2.33 pharmacy assistants and 1.43 pharmacy technicians, respectively. Conclusion: Stopwatch technique can be used to obtain the basic information to identify standard time of working and the appropriateness of manpower in order to optimize the workload in pharmacy organization.