A Study on Factors affecting Productivity of Outpatient Pharmacy of a Corporate Hospital

Abstract

A brief study was carried out in outpatient pharmacy of a tertiary care corporate hospital, to evaluate its productivity, especially in relation to prescriptions being dispensed and its impact on revenue Relevant data has been collected from the outpatient departments, pharmacy records and personal interviews with concerned staff and from patient feedback. Number of prescriptions generated vis-à-vis number of daily outpatient visits, those reaching the pharmacy and out of which the number which could be dispensed and the reasons for bouncing of the prescriptions was analyzed .Patient feedback was also obtained through a limited survey on reasons for their not collecting prescribed medicines from the hospital's outpatient pharmacy . Based on the study findings, certain recommendations have been made, for enhancing the productivity of the pharmacy.