Effects of mental demands during dispensing on per... [Res Social Adm Pharm. 2010] - PubMed result

Res Social Adm Pharm. 2010 Dec;6(4):293-306. Epub 2010 Feb 11.
Effects of mental demands during dispensing on perceived medication safety and employee well-being: a study of workload in pediatric hospital pharmacies.
Holden RJ, Patel NR, Scanlon MC, Shalaby TM, Arnold JM, Karsh BT.
SourceSchool of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1550 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. rholden@wisc.edu

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pharmacy workload is a modifiable work system factor believed to affect both medication safety outcomes and employee outcomes, such as job satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to measure the effect of workload on safety and employee outcomes in 2 pediatric hospitals and to do so using a novel approach to pharmacy workload measurement.

METHODS: Rather than measuring prescription volume or other similar indicators, this study measured the type and intensity of mental demands experienced during the medication dispensing tasks. The effects of external (interruptions, divided attention, and rushing) and internal (concentration and effort) task demands on perceived medication error likelihood, adverse drug event likelihood, job dissatisfaction, and burnout were statistically estimated using multiple linear and logistic regression.

RESULTS: Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians reported high levels of external and internal mental demands during dispensing. The study supported the hypothesis that external demands (interruptions, divided attention, and rushing) negatively impacted medication safety and employee well-being outcomes. However, as hypothesized, increasing levels of internal demands (concentration and effort) were not associated with greater perceived likelihood of error, adverse drug events, or burnout and even had a positive effect on job satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS: Replicating a prior study in nursing, this study shows that new conceptualizations and measures of workload can generate important new findings about both detrimental and beneficial effects of workload on patient safety and employee well-being. This study discusses what those findings imply for policy, management, and design concerning automation, cognition, and staffing.

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PMID:21111387[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3052977[Available on 2011/12/1]
Effects of mental demands during dispensing on per... [Res Social Adm Pharm. 2010] - PubMed result