Developing a service excellence system for ambulatory care pharmacy services

A service excellence system for ambulatory care pharmacy services is descri bed. An interview was designed to measure the needs, expectations, and prioritie s of a random sample of ambulatory care patients at a 964-bed county teachi ng hospital and its clinics to determine trends in patient service and sati sfaction. The interviews were conducted by the same interviewers with the s ame script, and follow-up was continuous for two years. Information was sum marized for each question and pharmacy site. In defining "service excellenc e" from a patient's perspective, it was determined that patients wanted a c ontinuation of low-cost prescriptions, decreased waiting time, a friendlier , more caring staff, and environmental modifications. A service excellence system with key performance indicators was then designed and implemented. T his effort included recruiting employees with behaviors that support servic e excellence, training employees to deliver service excellence, creating an environment that promotes patient satisfaction, and designing an ongoing m onitoring system. Next, it was imperative to change the attitudes of staff and existing processes to meet or exceed patients' expectations. This phase -addressed such issues as patient waiting time, staff-patient interaction, patients' environmental concerns, and staff ideas for service improvement. Finally, changes in service levels were measured. Overall patient satisfact ion increased from 72% to 93% at the maincampus pharmacies, Satisfaction at the smaller sites rose from 85% to 95%, while turnaround time and number o f pharmacist full-time-equivalents remained stable. A service excellence pr ogram was effective in addressing the service issues of ambulatory care pat ients at a large teaching hospital.