Answer

Statistical Thinking in Medical Health Care

            Statistical Thinking for Business Improvement gave me an opportunity to analyze events in different perspectives. To begin with, it is important that we review our prescription filling process so as to identify our mistakes and then develop solutions based on the problem solving techniques learnt. As we both know, prescriptions are written instructions from the doctor to a patient instructing them on the medication to use in order to treat specific ailments. Ostensibly, the doctor is the only person allowed to prescribe medications in a health setting. Here at HMO, we receive the prescriptions as delivered from the doctor and analyze or interpret the instructions on behalf of the patient. After this, we verify whether the patient is within the pharmacy’s data base and if not, we request for their demographic data, insurance information and confirm if they have any allergies. We then feed this information in the pharmacy’s data base. This is the information our statistical consultant uses to track the trends in wrong prescriptions.

            Basically, our prescription process is almost similar to any other pharmacy procedures, however, there are a number of problems in the system. First, transcription errors in the prescriptions are the most common problems. Our doctors omit some words or letters leading to misinterpretation of the prescribed drugs. At times, these doctors use sloppy handwritings that make it difficult to read the prescriptions. Second, the pharmacy lacks confirmation procedures. This is common among us, as pharmacists. Whenever the instructions prescribed are difficult to read, we do not confirm the exact details from the prescriber, instead, we assume based on our knowledge. this is what causes the doctors to assume that we are incompetent as pharmacists. As the lead pharmacist in the institution, your involvement in the daily operations of the pharmacy is also low. in this regard, you may not know when these problems occur. Lastly, as pharmacists, we do not engage our customers adequately when selling the prescribed drugs. In this regard, we miss out on the important details of their conditions that would have enabled us give the correct prescriptions.

            For proper understanding of our business, we use the SIPOC model of analysis as learnt in the Statistical Thinking class. According to Yeung (2009), SIPOC stands for Supplier, Input, Process steps, Output and Customer. Using this method, the supplier is the pharmacy manager and the assistant or sales representative. We are the people in charge of analyzing the  prescriptions, collecting customer data and providing the correct drugs to patients. The input in the pharmacy are the prescriptions from the doctor, the clients’ background and the drugs in the store. In terms of processes, there are three main processes in the pharmacy, interpretation of the prescription, analysis of the patient’s background and notifying that the drug is available. Next is the output in which the patient is given the correct drug as prescribed and finally, the customer is the one who receives the drugs and consumes as prescribed by the doctor. Evidently, our business upholds the SIPOC business model which is simple and efficient as approved by…..

            Inasmuch as the pharmacy is able to successfully achieve the SIPOC structure, problems occur in fulfillment of specific stages. For instance, at the supplier stage, the facility’s manager rarely oversees the drug administration process. It therefore becomes difficult to detect and solve problems all business stages. The input stage is faced with the problem of misinterpretation of the prescription due to doctors’ sloppy handwritings and ignorance among the pharmacists as we do not seek clarification despite the inability to comprehend the prescribed information. Processing of the drugs and patient’s information is also poor as we fail to indulge the patients adequately in order to understand their conditions and relate them to the available drugs. These series of mistakes therefore lead to a poor output where the patient is given a wrong prescription. The customer customer’s condition therefore worsens and through investigations, the pharmacy is found guilty and at the threat of losing its license.

            According to the listed problems based on the SIPOC model, the pharmacy’s problems are due to one special cause and three common causes. The special cause in this case is that the manager (supplier) does not take part in the daily activities of the institution. Therefore, his assistant and other pharmacists conduct business without adequate guidance from the head pharmacists. this qualifies as a special cause since its effect impacts all other business processes. Other common causes include: misinterpretation of the prescription by pharmacists, ignorance as the pharmacists fail to confirm the unclear details from doctors and inadequate collection of patient data. These are common causes since pharmacists all over the world face the challenge of sloppy handwritings from doctors and seek clarifications, counseling patients before dispensing is done in all pharmacy and helps to reduce the chances of errors by up to 83% and finally, pharmacists check the prescriptions repeatedly as required by their practice ().

            As opposed to hiring a statistical consultant who focuses on predicting the occurrence of mistakes instead of identifying the mistakes, I would adopt a pharmaceutical business model where all business transactions are carried out as described by the pharmaceutical procedures. For instance, all pharmacists should adequately seek the client’s conditions before administering any drugs. Second, I would encourage administrative operations where any unclear prescriptions are channeled to the pharmacy manager who verifies the details from the doctors especially whenever the doctor uses a sloppy handwriting and finally, I would integrate the vertical and horizontal support structure which will allow the administration to interact with the clients and pharmacists in-charge more frequently. To ensure that these tools work accordingly, I would generate questionnaires in which the patients will answer questions regarding the quality of services as per the described areas of operations.

            Lastly, the problems experienced at HMO pharmacy are common among other pharmacies. The only unique problem is that of limited involvement by the administration. In this regard, i encourage the management to participate in the daily activities of the pharmacy by being the link between the pharmacists and the doctors. In this regard, they should be the ones to contact the doctor to seek clarification whenever the prescriptions are unclear. This will ensure better accountability and reduce chances of wrong prescriptions. To measure the efficiency of this solution, pharmacists should always note the instances in which the doctor is consulted and record this along with the patient’s information in the data base. In this regard, any complaint can be determined linked to know whether the chain of command was adequately utilized during administration.