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CPOE Pharmacy Call Reduction |
Reduction of Pharmacy Clarification calls to Physicians due to CPOE
Newton Wellesley Hospital, a medium-sized community/teaching hospital (<300 beds) located in a nearby Boston, MA suburb,
Measurements: noted as part of its CPOE justification review that Pharmacy clarification phone calls decreased on average of 52 %, as reported by the Pharmacy Director for the calendar year 2004 thru calendar year 2005 (2004: 2435 calls, 2005: 1267 calls), due directly to the implementation of CPOE.
NWH piloted CPOE on the Pediatric unit in Oct, 2004, and completed the full rollout of CPOE to all inpatient units in Nov 2005, with the exception of Psychiatry, which was brought live in Feb 2006.
Results & Conclusions:
Estimating an average of 5 minutes seconds per call per physician with pharmacist (including wait-time to connect to ordering provider), direct overall time savings was estimated to be approximately:
2004 (pre-CPOE): 2435 calls * 5 minutes/call = 12175 minutes/60 minutes/hr = 203 hours annually
2005 (post-CPOE – last units live in Feb ’06): 1267 calls * 5 minutes/call = 6335 minutes/60 minutes/hr = 106 hours annually
Total annual savings (estimated) = 203-106=97 Pharmacy Hours
Note: The increase in savings is magnified when factoring in physician and other clinical staff time responding to Pharmacy Clarification calls.
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