Measuring the time required to provide components of clinical pharmacy services

Aim: To determine the time spent by pharmacists on components of clinical pharmacy services using chosen recording tools. Method: A 4-week study was conducted at an acute general hospital in early 2006. Pharmacists completed Pharmaceutical Clinical Pathway (PCP) forms and recorded the time needed for its completion. Other activities not associated with completing PCP forms (e.g. medication chart review, clinical review, adverse drug reaction monitoring, therapeutic drug monitoring, provision of drug information) and the time needed to complete these were recorded on Clinical Activity Data Sheets (CADS). Finally, pharmacists recorded their interventions (and the time involved) directly into the Riskman database. Results: 204 PCP forms were completed. Pharmacists completed the medication history component of the PCP form and recorded the time in 92% of completed forms. The most commonly recorded time for this component of the PCP form was 6 to 10 minutes. There were 418 CADS completed with the most recorded activities being clinical review (355 occasions) and medication chart review (351 occasions). The least recorded activity was adverse drug reaction monitoring (20 occasions). The time for these activities was recorded on more than 97% of CADS completed with mean times ranging from 4.9 minutes (therapeutic drug monitoring) to 6.9 minutes (provision of drug information). 202 interventions were entered into the Riskman database and the time was recorded for 98% of these (mean time 8.8 minutes). Conclusion: The chosen recording tools measured the times required for the provision of a range of activities provided by a clinical pharmacy service.