What does a pharmacist do? A time and motion study

Abstract

Background: Pharmacists work in many different settings and have various responsibilities. However, pharmacists are expensive and need to be used efficiently. Previous studies have shown that prescription preparation, clinician interaction, and medical record evaluation take a large part of a pharmacist's day. Additionally, it is also estimated that almost half of their time is considered "non-value added," or that their tasks could be performed by a non-pharmacist.

Objective: To observe pharmacists in multiple practice settings and record their activities to gauge inefficiencies.

Methods: Time and motion methods were used to observe how pharmacists in retail, clinical, hospital, ambulatory, and academic settings perform daily tasks. Data was collected every 5 min for a total of 18 h from each setting, and sorted into 20 general categories of pharmacists' tasks.

Results: Pharmacists spend more time verifying prescriptions than any other activity, accounting for 31% of their time. Other common activities were patient education, charting, counseling, and chart review.

Conclusion: Although most of pharmacists' daily activities add value to the healthcare team, there are ways to use their time more efficiently. Along with delegating tasks to other pharmacy personnel, new initiatives designed to help pharmacists increase time spent on value-added tasks are recommended.