Analysis of community pharmacy workflow processes in preventing dispensing errors

The objectives of this analysis were to determine the compliance rate with dispensing workflow criteria and note if any dispensing errors occurred. Observations were made within 18 community retail pharmacies having at least 50 out-window (ie, prescription pickup window) transactions per store. Based on the historic pharmacy error incidence reports, pharmacies were categorized as being either high- or low-risk pharmacies. The compliance rates for the dispensing workflow criteria were observed between high- and low-risk pharmacies and also between different employee categories. Employee categories included pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and pharmacy technicians who were involved in the dispensing process. Between August 2004 and January 2005, 950 out-window transactions were observed. There were statistically significant differences seen between high- and low-risk pharmacies and between the various categories of employees. Based on this study, the lack of the verification of patient's name and number of prescriptions being picked up was the procedure that was more commonly associated with pharmacies reported to have high dispensing error rates.