Pharmacy Team Cuts Wait Times, Improves Patient Satisfaction

The work was backing up at the Redwood City Pharmacy, so the team looked to decrease wait times and improve patient satisfaction. They had a pharmacist monitor same-day prescriptions and moved those ahead for immediate processing. They used clear bags so orders would stand out. They encouraged patients to refill prescriptions through mail-order and created a "problem technician" to help with issues. They jumped to the top for wait times in Northern California as roughly 89 percent of prescriptions were filled in 15 minutes or less. Patient satisfaction scores jumped from 65.8 percent to 71.5 percent in one year.

 

Here's What Worked

• Monitoring incoming same-day prescriptions and moving them ahead of the line to be processed immediately
• Using clear bags for same-day prescriptions, instead of standard white bags, so those orders stand out for pharmacy technicians
• Encouraging patients to refill their prescriptions through mail-order to reduce the load on in-house pharmacists

What can your team do to be innovative problem solvers? What else could your team do to increase patient satisfaction?