Article Text
Abstract
Background and Importance Up until March 2022, medical prescription orders and next appointments were printed on paper for pharmaceutical validation and medication dispensation. A new website was developed to optimise this process.
Aim and Objectives Assess the level of improvement and satisfaction of professionals with the new outpatient website application.
Material and Methods A seven question Likert-type survey was conducted in September 2022 among pharmacy technicians and pharmacists who had worked with and without the new website. There were five questions assessing patient waiting time, time spent on pharmaceutical validation and dispensation, communication between pharmacists and technicians, safety, and information accessibility about patients and their treatment. There were two remaining questions assessing global satisfaction before and after the web. To assess improvement and satisfaction, answers were scored from one (totally disagree) to five (totally agree). All questionnaires were anonymous. The mean score was calculated with Microsoft Excel® (v.2019) for each of the questions. The results obtained were analysed for each of the professional categories.
Results A total of 14 pharmacy technicians and 17 pharmacists were included. According to technicians, 40% (6) believe that patient waiting time has been reduced (mean: 3), 27% (4) believe that validation and dispensing times have been reduced (mean: 3), and 20% (3) believe that technician-pharmacist communication has improved (mean: 3). 80% (12) answered that safety has improved (mean: 4) and 47% (7%) responded that accessibility to information regarding patients and their treatment has improved (mean: 3). 76% (13) of pharmacists responded that patient waiting time has been reduced (mean: 4), 82% (14) thought that the time spent on validation and dispensation has been reduced and that technician-pharmacist communication has improved (mean: 4). 88% (15) believe that safety has improved (mean: 4) and 100% (17) of pharmacists believe that accessibility to information regarding patients and their treatment has improved (mean: 5). The global average satisfaction without the website was 3 points, with the website was 4 points for technicians and 5 points for pharmacists.
Conclusion and Relevance Staff opinions differ according to their professional category: for pharmacists, the new web has reduced working time and has improved communication, safety and accessibility to treatment. For technicians, it has only improved safety. However, the overall staff satisfaction with the website is higher.
Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest