Extended Hours Clinical Pharmacy - Our Journey Towards the 7-day Hospital

Summary

All patients deserve the same standard of care, regardless of when they present to hospital. In the future, we envisage a true 24/7 on-site pharmacy service. This innovative service redesign may be applicable to other disciplines (professional and operational) who may be looking for methods to transition from a business day service to a 7-day hospital model.

Key dates

Jan 2017 - Jan 2018

Implementation sites

Logan Hospital

Aim

Extend the availability of on-site clinical pharmacy services to align with the district strategic goal of the seven day hospital.

Benefits

Elimination of regular overtime shifts
Ensuring an increased standard of pharmaceutical care for patients across all 7 days of the week

Background

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests patients admitted to hospital on weekends and after hours can have poorer health outcomes. Internationally, moves are being made to provide consistent access to comprehensive healthcare across the seven-day week.

‘The Clinical Imperative for Seven-Day Healthcare’ was the topic of discussion at the 26-27 March 2015 The Queensland Clinical Senate meeting. Members unanimously agreed to the concept that patients should have access to the same level of care regardless of what day of the week they present at hospital.

Solutions implemented

The department leveraged off reformatting roster configurations to better incorporate part-time staff, and redevelopment opportunities to restructure the service to better meet the needs of patients and other health professionals across all 7 days of the week, whilst reducing overtime.

Staff consultation and engagement with Workforce Services occurred over a 3 month period prior to implementation of the initiative to allow direct feedback. Rotation preferences were provided to staff to allow flexibility within roles and with rostered hours. No pre-existing template or software was used to create our roster.

Evaluation and results

Key Performance Indicators post-implementation demonstrated an increase in patients receiving a BPMH completed by a pharmacist within 24 hours of admission and an increase in patients reviewed by a pharmacist on weekends.

References

Waddell J, Marxen S, O’Donnell E and Porter S. The 7-Day Hospital: Our Journey Towards Expanded and Extended hours Clinical Pharmacy Services. Pharmacy GRIT 2017-8; 1(4):264-9. DOI: 10.24080/grit.1059

Key contact

Erin O'Donnell

A/Assistant Director Pharmacy - Clinical

Metro South Hospital and Health Service

Email: erin.odonnell@health.qld.gov.au

Last updated: April 2018

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Overview