Reducing Turnaround Time of Pharmacy Indents: A Study on Process Efficiency and Patient-Centered Strategies
Keywords:
Cold-Chain Management, High-Alert Medications, Medication Dispensing, Patient Safety, Pharmacy Indent, Regular Indent, STAT Indent, Turnaround Time (TAT)Abstract
Background: Timely dispensing of medications is critical for patient safety and hospital efficiency. Delays in pharmacy indents, especially STAT indents, can impact clinical outcomes.
Scope: Within the hospital Pharmacy.
Objective: To reduce the turnaround time (TAT) of pharmacy indents through process optimization and patient-centered safety strategies.
Turnaround time in pharmacy denotes the interval between requisition submission, Indent landing in pharmacy, and the dispatch of medications.
Timely dispatch of medication plays a critical role in patient safety, treatment outcomes, and hospital efficiency. Delays in drug supply to patients can be serious; the effects can be horrifying in terms of Mortality and morbidity for critical patients. Pharmacists are uniquely qualified to manage and support health care organizations by leading utmost efforts to reduce the TAT of pharmacy indents, especially STAT indents or emergency indents, which are required to be dispatched from the pharmacy within the standard time frame.
It is very important to dispense indented medications with strict adherence to quality and accuracy standards to avoid errors. High-alert medications must be dispensed and dispatched from the pharmacy with proper labeling, collected from their specified place in a separate tray, and checked following the standard process of independent double-checking. While dispatching the indent of high-alert medications, a stamp of “High Alert Medication” should be placed on the indent copy to create alertness in receiving staff at the time of indent receipt, ensuring that these items need to be carried and administered effectively. Similarly, medications requiring cold storage must be dispensed along with ice packs in a cold box, with the temperature maintained optimally between 2–8 °C. Stickers indicating “Cold Storage required” should be affixed to such drugs to reinforce proper handling and storage. These measures strengthen patient safety, minimize dispensing errors, and ensure that critical medications are delivered under the required conditions.
