A Preliminary Study about the Relationship between Workload and the Outcomes of Community Pharmacists’ Home Visiting Service / 社会薬学

ABSTRACT

Aim:To examine any relations of workload and outcomes of pharmacists’ home visiting service for medication management and guidance. Survey Target:Managing pharmacists and home-visiting pharmacists from community pharmacies of the Osaka Pharmaceutical Association’s Yao and Toyonaka branches as of March, 2012. Methods:Survey forms regarding drug management and guidance at patients’ homes were mailed, requesting mail or online response. Workload indexes were visit frequency and work time on site. The relation of workload and its outcomes was examined using univariate analysis regarding three items:change in unused medication amount;detection of side effects during visits;change in prescription. SPSS ver. 20 for Windows was used for statistical analysis. Results:90 of 201 pharmacies responded (collection rate 44.8%), and 110 home patients’ data were analyzed. 5-to-15-minute actual work time scored highest (57.4%), followed by less than 5 minutes and 15 to 30 minutes, both at 21.3%. Visit frequency of twice a month scored highest (70.4%), followed by once a week (19.4%), once a month (7.4%), and once in more than one month (2.8%). 5-minute or longer patient visits had a tendency of higher percentage of patients whose unused medication decreased after visits started than less-than-5-minute visits (<i>P</i>=0.072). “Once a week” visits had a tendency of higher percentage of pharmacists detecting side effects than less frequent visits (<i>P</i>=0.061) and changing in prescription (<i>P</i>=0.085). Conclusion:The results above implied the relationship between workload and outcomes incurred by pharmacists’ home visits for medication safety management and guidance.