Express Queue Service in SOPD Pharmacies

Jessica Wong

Pharmacist Pharmacy Informatics & Automation Technology team

Chief Pharmacist’s Office, HAHO

Project objectives

1. To improve dispensing efficiency and reduce patient waiting time at Specialist Out-patient Clinic (SOPC) Pharmacy

2. To enhance overall patient satisfaction on drugs collection at SOPC Pharmacy

3. To improve staff morale and job satisfaction

Picking stations

working benches

Data Entry

Assembly station

Check & Issue

Conveyor belt

wor

king

ben

ches

Express Dispensing System (EDS) introduced in 1997

No triage

All patients wait alike

Congested waiting hall

Issues to tackle

Patients choose to leave

Drugs remain uncollected

New Model Development - Express Queue

Data

Analysis

Congestion in waiting hall

Many uncollected prescriptions

Prolonged waiting time

One item prescriptions - Up to 30% of total workload

Management meeting

Collect user requirements Program development

User Acceptance Test

Prepare to

rollout

2015 2016 Begin rollout

User meeting

User Acceptance Test user training

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Oct Nov Sep Dec Jan

Express Queue (Model A)

Picking stations

working benches

Data Entry

Assembly station

Check & Issue

Conveyor belt

wor

king

ben

ches

Express Queue (Model B)

Overcoming hurdles

Design & customize new workflow for individual pharmacies

Maintaining performance of other queues for drug collection

Enablers • Management support in changing patient flow & pharmacy

set up

• IT system readiness : support site-specific configuration

• Staff acceptance and compliance

Patients’ acceptance & expectation

Revamp in SOPC Pharmacy (e.g. physical set up)

Enablers & Challenges

Overall improvements

Collaborative Efforts of CPO , Local Hospital Pharmacies & ITD

Overall waiting time improved

One item prescriptions: Sustainable & significant ↓↓↓ of waiting time • PWH: ↓ >80% (~100 minutes)

reduction in peak hours • QEH: ↓ >60% (~30 minutes)

Significant reduction of staff overtime • from 30-60 min to 0-30 min per day

Less congestion in waiting hall

Significant reduction of Uncollected prescriptions

Reduced patient enquiries / complaints

Waiting Time Improvement • Reduced patients’ waiting time for dispensing of both one-item Rx (from

60-90min down to 10-20 mins) and other prescriptions • Sustainable improvement in performance

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(min) Dispensing Waiting Time by Weekday_April 2016

QEH ACC Pharmacy

Express

Normal

0102030405060708090

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(min) Dispensing Waiting Time by Weekday_Sept 2015

LKSSC Pharmacy

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(min)

Dispensing Waiting Time by Weekday_Sept 2015 QEH ACC Pharmacy

0102030405060708090

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(min) Dispensing Waiting Time by Weekday_April 2016

LKSSC Pharmacy

Express

Normal

0102030405060708090

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(min) Dispensing Waiting Time by Weekday_Sept 2016

LKSSC Pharmacy

Express

Normal

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(min) Dispensing Waiting Time by Weekday_Sept 2016

QEH ACC Pharmacy

Express

Normal

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Mon Tue

Wed

Thur Fr

i

Mon Tue

Wed

Thur Fr

i

Mon Tue

Wed

Thur Fr

i

Mon Tue

Wed

Thur Fr

i

05-D

ec

06-D

ec

07-D

ec

08-D

ec

09-D

ec

27-M

ar

28-M

ar

29-M

ar

30-M

ar

31-M

ar

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Dec-16 Mar-17

No. of Uncollected Prescription in LKSSC pharmacy

15 Feb 2016 - 11 Mar 2016 5 – 9 Dec 2016

Reduction of Uncollected Prescriptions

• Same-day uncollected prescriptions reduced by 60% • Reduce manpower required to handle uncollected prescriptions • Facilitate better usage of storage space in SOPC Pharmacies

27 -31 Mar 2017

Implementation of Express Queue

Uncollected Prescriptions (Before)

Uncollected Prescriptions (After)

15

Highly appreciated by patients and public

Well received by frontline colleagues from both Pharmacy and SOPCs

Less congestion in waiting hall

Implementation progress for other Pharmacies

QEH

PWH

CMC

TMH CPH

KWH

PYN

POH AHNH

UCH TKO

QMH

1. Outcomes focus 2. Collaborative efforts 3. Team works 4. Dedicated frontline staff 5. Continuous improvement

CPO

IT

QEH

PWH

Success Factors

THANK YOU Special thank you to: Pharmacy Staff of PWH: Department Manage: Dr Benjamin Shing Cheung LEE Senior Pharmacist: Ms Jennifer WONG Pharmacist: Mr Siu Tin KO Pharmacy Staff of QEH: Department Manage: Mr Kenneth K M LAW Pharmacist: Ms Carol LAU Senior Dispenser: Mr W H LAM, Vicca P W AU Staff of Information Technology and Health Informatics Division: System Manager: Mr Patrick NG System Manager: Mr S F LAM System Analyst: Mr Jason LO Staff of Chief Pharmacist’s Office: Chief Pharmacist: Ms Anna LEE Senior Pharmacist: Ms Teresa NGAN Pharmacist: Mr Frank CHUNG Senior Dispenser: Mr Scott CHAN, Ms Paulinus CHAN