REENGINEERING A PHARMACY WORK SYSTEM AND LAYOUT TO FACILITATE PATIENTCOUNSELING

The development and evaluation of a new work system and facility desig n for a chain of community pharmacies are described. A new work system was developed to optimize utilization of pharmacist and technician ti me and allow the pharmacy to increase patient counseling without addin g personnel. In the new system, pharmacists would review prescriptions , check technicians' work, and dispense prescriptions, counseling pati ents as needed; technicians would enter prescriptions into the pharmac y computer and fill them. The existing work system and design were eva luated in June and July of 1992 by observing, classifying, and recordi ng activities of pharmacy personnel three days per week at six pharmac ies in the chain. Pharmacy designs that would work with the new work s ystem were created by a university design class after consultation wit h representatives of the pharmacy chain and the university's college o f pharmacy. The pharmacy chain selected one design, and a detailed flo or plan and specifications were created. To test how the new design an d system would work at each of the six test pharmacies, a computer sim ulation program was developed and verified by using the data collected on the existing pharmacy operations. Computer simulation showed that, with the new design and system, increasing patient counseling would i ncrease patient waiting time slightly but would not require additional personnel. The layout and work system in a chain of community pharmac ies were redesigned to facilitate patient counseling and make the best use of employee time.