The workload measurement of an inpatient hospital dispensary is critical to improve efficiency in the face of limited budgets. This single-centre pilot study used work sampling to observe and identify areas to improve efficiency of dispensing prescribed medications at one tertiary level acute care teaching hospital. Workload sampling was conducted at a 1096-bed hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The dispensary services the entire hospital, 24 h per day, seven days per week. Pharmacists are solely involved in clinical screening. The hospital uses a tech-check-tech practice. The observer was a registered pharmacist who collected data in the dispensary over two-hour blocks during November 14-24, 2017. A pre-made data collection sheet was used to record observations. Pharmacists duplicated tasks performed by dispensary technicians, such as ensuring STAT orders were delivered or identifying floor stock medications. Assistants inconsistently organised orders for filling. The assistant delivering STAT medications was difficult to find. Not all STAT medications were delivered first on a scheduled delivery route. Overall, areas for improvement in the dispensary process may include reinforcing the pharmacist clinical duties, establishing clinical competency baseline, supporting the full scope of practice of registered technicians, and consistent training of assistants, and clarifying communication processes.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.11.015 | DOI Listing |
Plant Biol (Stuttg)
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Oasis Eco-agriculture, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China.
Plants with the C photosynthetic pathway can withstand water stress better than plants with C metabolism. However, it is unclear whether C photosynthesis can be preliminarily activated in droughted cotton leaves, and if this contributes to increase in water use efficiency (WUE). An upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Form Res
January 2025
ICMR-National Institute for Research in Digital Health and Data Science, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 110029, India, 91 7840870009.
Background: Verbal autopsy (VA) has been a crucial tool in ascertaining population-level cause of death (COD) estimates, specifically in countries where medical certification of COD is relatively limited. The World Health Organization has released an updated instrument (Verbal Autopsy Instrument 2022) that supports electronic data collection methods along with analytical software for assigning COD. This questionnaire encompasses the primary signs and symptoms associated with prevalent diseases across all age groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry of Ministry of Education, LIFM, School of Chemistry, IGCME, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as low-cost photovoltaic representatives. Constructing three-dimensional (3D)/two-dimensional (2D) perovskite heterostructures has been shown to effectively enhance the efficiency and stability of PSCs. However, further enhancement of device performance is still largely limited by inferior conductivity of the 2D perovskite capping layer and its mismatched energy level with the 3D perovskite layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharm Stat
January 2025
Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
A recent study design for clinical trials with small sample sizes is the small n, sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial (snSMART). An snSMART design has been previously proposed to compare the efficacy of two dose levels versus placebo. In such a trial, participants are initially randomized to receive either low dose, high dose or placebo in stage 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomater Sci
January 2025
School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310023, China.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT), utilizing a photosensitizer (PS) to induce tumor cell death, is an effective modality for cancer treatment. PS-peptide conjugates have recently demonstrated remarkable antitumor potential in preclinical trials. However, the limited cell membrane binding affinity and rapid systemic clearance have hindered their transition to clinical applications.
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