Campus Pharmacy Study
Sarah Craighill, Prabir Mehta and Julie Shinabery are doing their project based on the question, "Can technology help improve the efficiency and accuracy of the work done at the Georgia Tech student pharmacy?"
The small campus pharmacy is responsible for serving the needs of nearly 14,000 students. As in all medical facilities, errors can - and do - occur. We have gained access to the pharmacy, where we will observe the pharmacists and assistants in their work. Our goal is to understand the current system of work as it relates to fulfilling the students' needs, and analyze if and how that system can be improved using technology.
Feb 25, 2001
Context for the study:
· Primary context - The work of pharmacists and assistants in the Georgia Tech campus pharmacy
· Larger context - Wellness Center at Georgia Tech
· Potential context - Processes that involve doctors, nurses, students, cashiers and pharmaceutical suppliers
Research Questions:
1. What are the most common pharmaceutical needs of the Georgia Tech students?
2. What are the characteristics of the pharmacy staff? (years of experience, education, level of computer skills, their comfort level with technology)
3. How does the pharmacy deal with sheer number of students, is size a confound?
4. What are common errors and frequency of those errors? How do errors affect the system and students?
5. What are the implications (possible pitfalls) of the observational methods that we choose to understand the pharmacists work in the greater context of Georgia Tech?
6. What are the pharmacists' current process, what do they actually do? (collaborative elements, is the current process conducive to a hierarchical task analysis description?)
7. How do the pharmacists feel about the effectiveness or lack of current technology vs. any proposed alternatives vs. past systems? Do they trust it?
8. What is the interaction or coordination between doctors and nurses, in addition to the pharmacy's relationship to the student health center as a whole?
9. Does the college pharmacy have a relationship between drugstore or standalone pharmacy? What is their relationship with suppliers?
10. Are there any yearly trends in how busy the pharmacy is and if so do the trends co-vary with medication errors?
11. What are the consequences of the errors?
12. What are the incentive structures?
13. Are there any workarounds? Potential for miscommunications?
Population definition and boundaries:
Any professional involved in the system of getting drugs to the students, including
· Campus pharmacists and staff
· Doctors/nurses
· Cashier
Units of analysis:
· Georgia Tech pharmacy in the Wellness Center (vs. campus pharmacies in general)
· Interaction between professionals within the "system"
· Effectiveness of the "system"
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