IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS LEADING TO EXCESSIVE WAITING TIME AT THE PHARMACY UNIT OF HEALTH CLINICS IN TEMERLOH DISTRICT, PAHANG, MALAYSIA
Excessive patient waiting time at dispensing pharmacies is attributed to workflow inefficiencies that are difficult to isolate. The objectives of this study are to quantify current operational process and delay times and also to identify bottlenecks that lead to excessive waiting time at the pharmacy unit of primary health clinics in Temerloh district. A multicentre observational cohort study was conducted at a Pharmacy Unit of Bandar Mentakab Health Clinic (KKBM), Temerloh Health Clinic (KKT) and Tanjung Lalang Health Clinic (KKTL). Stopwatch technique was applied for all four operational procedures (greeting, data entry, filling and dispensing) based on workflow analysis. Data collection forms were used to identify factors and their impact on process time. Major components causing long waiting times were found in delay segments. Significant time delay occurred before greeting at KKT; before data entry at KKBM, KKT and KKTL; and before dispensing at KKTL. Among factors found affecting process segment in data entry include presence of intervention and psychotropic substances in the prescription. Filling process was found to be delayed by the presence of more than three items, cold items, intervention and psychotropic substances in the prescription. In addition, dispensing process was found to be delayed by errors in data entry and filling. This study identified several common bottlenecks and isolated issues specific to each pharmacy unit of three health clinics that lead to excessive operational process and delay times in pharmacy dispensing process. This approach laid a solid base to spearhead future optimisation strategies to improve efficiency and shorten waiting time.