Medication Dispensing: A Case Study

The key stakeholders involved in this project are the patients, the pharmacy team members (Pharmacists, Technicians), other Healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses), the independent pharmacies that are currently contracted to service the LTCs, and the Health Region Executive members. The patients will benefit from the business plan as they will have increased access to the Pharmacist’s clinical expertise, leading to a clearer idea of medication regimen upon discharge and better outcomes. Nonetheless, they may be concerned about the automatization of medication dispensing and the potential for errors. They can be re-assured that the technology is not error-prone, and that there are checkpoints to assure the correct patient receives the …show more content…
They can be assured that the population of the health region is growing faster than the number of health care professionals. In order to meet patient needs, the introduction of this technology is necessary, and there are still tasks that require the presence of a technician (e.g. quality control, ordering medication re-fills, etc…). Other health care professionals are not likely to object to the business plan, as it aims to enhance inter-professional relationships, leads to better patient care, less drug therapy problems, and more in-depth counselling. It is expected that the independent pharmacies contracted to serve the LTC medication needs will object to the business plan, as it will take business away from them. However, this reduces costs from the health region, and there is no need to appease their objection. The Health Region Executive is arguably the most crucial stakeholder, since their funding and endorsement is needed to implement the business plan. They may be reluctant to incur the upfront cost of the centralized automated dispensing device and the cost that comes with re-training the …show more content…
The decision to support the automation of dispensing service depends on the current workflow (number of scripts filled per day), the number of pharmacy technicians available, and the pharmacist: patient ratio. Nevertheless, it’s been made clear that the rural health region has a fast-growing population, and there is a large burden on the pharmacy staff with manual prescription processing. It has also been proposed that with the automation of dispensing, the pharmacy team can shift the focus from technical to clinical, patient-centered, counselling-oriented services. A shift that may improve workflow efficiently, cut down on long term costs, and improve patient outcomes. In theory, the Pharmacy director’s vision appears beneficial, and I do support the business