School of Pharmacy, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Department of Sociology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
Eur J Hosp Pharm. 2020 Mar;27(2):78-83. doi: 10.1136/ejhpharm-2018-001518. Epub 2018 Sep 3.
This project explored the deployment of pharmacy assistants to inpatient wards in a new role as 'medicines assistants' (MA).
Ward-based MAs were introduced to six wards across two UK hospitals to support medicines administration. Each 30-bed ward delivered acute inpatient services with MAs supporting typical nursing medication administration rounds to 15 patients. Data were collected using activity diaries, observations, clinical audit and semistructured interviews with pharmacy assistants, pharmacy technicians, clinical pharmacists, nurses, ward managers and pharmacy managers. Thematic analysis, descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyse qualitative and quantitative data, respectively.
MAs were able to act as a point of contact between the ward and the pharmacy department and were perceived to save nursing time. A statistically significant reduction in the length of time to complete morning medication administration to 15 patients was observed (mean 74.5 vs 60.8 min per round, p<0.05). On average, 17.4 hours of medicines-related activity per ward per week was carried out by MAs rather than by nursing staff. Participants identified broader training and clarity was needed in relation to the accountability and governance of patient-facing roles.
Pharmacy assistants deployed as MAs can contribute to saving nursing time and bridge the gap between nursing and pharmacy professionals.
本项目探索了药剂师助理在新角色“药剂助理（MA）”下在住院病房中的部署。
在英国的两家医院的六间病房中引入了基于病房的 MA，以支持药物管理。每个有 30 张病床的病房提供急性住院服务，MA 支持 15 名患者的典型护理药物管理查房。使用活动日记、观察、临床审计和药剂师助理、药剂技术员、临床药师、护士、病房经理和药剂经理的半结构化访谈收集数据。使用主题分析、描述性统计和曼-惠特尼 U 检验分别分析定性和定量数据。
MA 能够充当病房和药房部门之间的联络点，并被认为可以节省护理时间。观察到完成 15 名患者的早晨药物管理的时间明显缩短（平均每轮 74.5 分钟对 60.8 分钟，p<0.05）。MA 平均每周在每个病房进行 17.4 小时与药物相关的活动，而不是由护理人员进行。参与者认为需要更广泛的培训，并明确患者面对角色的问责制和治理。
作为 MA 部署的药剂师助理可以有助于节省护理时间，并弥合护理和药剂师专业人员之间的差距。
