One area of which is a first of kind Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system, developed in partnership with System C. Alongside the EPMA system; a new discharge summary solution, and process was developed.
After the introduction of a new EPMA system, the discharge process within Pharmacy was reported to take three times that of the old system. This was causing delays in patient discharge and reduced patient flow as well as impacting staff morale. This study did not require ethics approval.
After cycle 2, we experienced a visible reduction in mean process time, and an increase in staff morale.
After cycle 4, we experienced an improved transfer of information to primary care (medicines reconciliation at discharge) and an improvement in control of variation in the process. At 3 months, we had achieved the aimed reduction in time.
We are working on the next steps to allow us to reduce significantly the process time in comparison to the old system whilst maintaining improved information quality.
