The College of Illinois at Chicago Specialty Pharmacy Providers (UI-SPS) is a URAC and ACHC accredited healthcare system specialty pharmacy that serves sufferers with advanced medical situations, corresponding to most cancers, inflammatory situations, neurological situations and hepatitis C. An essential side of accredited specialty pharmacies is a strong high quality program, together with monitoring and evaluation of high quality and efficiency metrics. Worker satisfaction is a crucial metric to trace and analyze within the UI-SPS high quality program and is beneficial for worker engagement and retention.
The UI-SPS worker satisfaction survey is carried out anonymously through a web-based survey platform. The survey asks staff to rank their stage of settlement, utilizing a 5-point Likert scale, with 11 statements together with readability of their objectives and expectations, open communication, feeling revered and valued, time administration, skilled development, and alternatives to obtain and provides suggestions.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, UI-SPS has carried out a distant work mannequin for workers in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions. UI-SPS consists of three branches: the Prior Authorization Heart (PAC), the Scientific Care Heart (CCC) and the Order Processing Heart.
PAC and CCC are conducive to working remotely, as their operations don’t require face-to-face interplay with the affected person. These groups transitioned to distant working within the spring of 2020. An evaluation of worker satisfaction with distant working capabilities was added to the worker satisfaction survey in June 2020 and subsequently included yearly by the next.
The worker satisfaction survey is a crucial and efficient technique to gauge the opinion of staff relating to the office. Assessing survey outcomes is essential to understanding and bettering the work atmosphere, as they’ll result in the implementation of processes to enhance employees engagement and retention whereas making certain a tradition of security. and excessive reliability in offering affected person care. At UI-SPS, these outcomes have been used to enhance distant work alternatives for workers.
Worker satisfaction survey leads to 2020 and 2021 indicated {that a} majority of staff most well-liked distant work as a brand new work atmosphere. In 2020, 16 staff responded to the survey, together with 7 pharmacists and 9 technicians.
A complete of 16 staff responded to the survey once more in 2021, together with 6 pharmacists, 7 technicians and three exterior college students. Total worker satisfaction with distant work averaged 66% between 2020 and 2021.
Satisfaction was decided by the variety of staff who responded largely agree or strongly agree with the assertion I choose distant work to on-site work.
Staff highlighted the advantages of working remotely, together with the flexibility to work at home or onsite if wanted, keep away from lengthy commutes, fewer distractions, and a decreased danger of spreading infectious ailments, such because the flu or COVID-19. Nevertheless, staff stated the most important draw back to working remotely was delays in speaking with on-site pharmacy crew members. For that reason, many have instructed having a hybrid mannequin that enables staff to work remotely or onsite.
Distant work is a rising pattern in many alternative areas of pharmacy. A 2021 examine assessed the extent to which pharmacy college school have been working remotely through the COVID-19 pandemic. A 28-question on-line survey was despatched to greater than 6,000 members of the American Affiliation of Faculties of Pharmacy (AACP).1
The survey discovered that 97% of respondents have been allowed to work remotely through the COVID-19 pandemic, displaying the rise in distant work alternatives in pharmacy.1 Moreover, 81% of directors within the examine didn’t discover a change in productiveness, whereas 85% didn’t discover a change in effectivity.1
The examine findings underscore the viability of distant work and its rising prevalence within the trade. Moreover, establishments such because the Seattle Most cancers Care Alliance have taken an identical strategy to UI-SPS. Their oral chemotherapy clinic is now utterly remoted with no centralized area, whereas their anticoagulation pharmacy operates remotely 90% of the time.2 Employees go to the location to see sufferers who want further follow-up and shut monitoring.2 Their mannequin demonstrates that pharmacies have the flexibility to function a hybrid mannequin whereas successfully assembly affected person wants.
Staff have constantly proven excessive ranges of satisfaction with the flexibility to work remotely. An evaluation carried out on 36 totally different healthcare departments by the Advisory Council ranked the pharmacy thirty fourth out of 36 in worker engagement, highlighting the necessity to implement extra helpful workflow processes for pharmacy staff. pharmacy.3 Happy and engaged staff can present higher service to sufferers, whereas decreasing turnover for the group.
UI-SPS Worker Satisfaction Survey Outcomes Align with Elevated Prevalence of Distant Working within the Pharma Business and Exhibit the Effectiveness of Implementing a Hybrid On-Web site Working Mannequin and remotely for workers of specialised pharmacies. Primarily based on worker recommendations from the survey, a hybrid mannequin permitting staff to work remotely whereas touring on-site as wanted for affected person care could be most helpful to make sure excessive ranges of worker satisfaction whereas minimizing the bodily area wanted for the pharmacy.
Though communication points have been highlighted within the survey, the implementation of latest workflow strategies helped fight these points. Strategies corresponding to utilizing safe chat features, growing employees accountability for numerous duties, and direct telephone calls to particular person crew member extensions helped set up normal communication. There’s additionally steady analysis of latest workflows to make sure clear communication between all crew members.
The way forward for pharmacy continues to evolve, and distant working capabilities seem like the following step for a extra profitable future in pharmacy. The broader implementation of distant working capabilities in specialty pharmacies might have a big influence on the way forward for specialty pharmacy, permitting staff to carry out all kinds of duties remotely whereas limiting the usage of bodily area within the pharmacy.
Some challenges of working remotely embrace establishing clear communication between crew members and different departments. Robust communication processes and clear normal working procedures will enable staff to work remotely with clear expectations.
The references
1. Prescott WA, Kennedy DR, DeLuca J. Distant work in pharmacy academia and implications for the brand new regular. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Training. https://www.ajpe.org/content material/early/2022/02/03/ajpe8950. Revealed February 1, 2022. Accessed October 15, 2022.
2. Shaw G. 3 facilities reveal greatest practices in hematology/oncology telepharmacy. Specialtypharmacycontinuum.com. https://www.specialtypharmacycontinuum.com/Pharmacy-TechnologyReport/Article/09-22/3-Facilities-Present-Greatest-Practices-In-Hematology-OncologyTelepharmacy/68432. Revealed October 20, 2022. Accessed October 21, 2022.
3. Sharon M. Enright PR. Rethinking worker engagement in pharmacy. Pharmacy time. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/rethinkingpharmacyemployeeengagement. Revealed June 18, 2015. Accessed September 27, 2022.
