Pharmacy staffing, workload, and productivity benchmarks in state psychiatric hospitals [Practice Research Report]

Purpose

Current benchmark statistics on staffing, workload, and productivity in hospital pharmacy departments of state psychiatric hospitals are described and assessed by hospital size.

Methods

An electronic survey of state psychiatric hospitals was conducted. Hospitals were categorized based on number of occupied beds. Descriptive statistics using Student's t tests, Pearson's chi-square tests, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to characterize the data and compare productivity by hospital size.

Results

Responses were received from 41 of 116 hospitals, yielding a response rate of 35.3%. Respondent hospitals did not differ from nonrespondents based on demographic data. Average inpatient census, patient days per year, expenditures, and workload were found to correlate positively with hospital size (r = 0.381–0.991, p < 0.05). Over 30% of hospitals reported using no indicators to monitor pharmacy productivity. Productivity ratios differed between very small–small and medium–large hospital groups: mean pharmaceutical expenditures per 100 occupied beds and per 1,000 patient days (p = 0.017 and 0.05, respectively), mean full-time equivalents (FTEs) per 1,000 doses dispensed or administered per month and per 100 occupied beds (p = 0.042 and 0.026, respectively), and mean pharmacist and technician FTEs per 100 occupied beds (p = 0.012 and 0.019, respectively).

Conclusion

A survey of pharmacies in state psychiatric hospitals provided metrics data on staffing, workload, and productivity that may be used as benchmarks in efforts to improve workforce efficiency, pharmaceutical care services, and financial performance.

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