Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34720159›Full record

ArticleHospital pharmacy2021

Impacts of a Mail-Order Service for Refilling Prescriptions on Patient Satisfaction and Operational Load at a Comprehensive Cancer Center in Jordan.

Rasha S AbuBlan, Wedad Awad, Randa Agha, Neveen Hejawi, Hala Srouji, Suzan Hammoudeh, Lama H Nazer

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Hospital pharmacy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 47% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Rasha S AbuBlanKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Wedad AwadKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7854-4970
Randa AghaKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Neveen HejawiKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Hala SroujiKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Suzan HammoudehKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Lama H NazerKing Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
King Hussein Cancer Center · JO

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMail-order services for refilling prescriptions for medications have been established in many countries and have increased patient satisfaction. We developed a mail-order service for the outpatient pharmacy of a comprehensive cancer center in Jordan.

objectiveTo describe the implementation of a mail-order service and to report the impact of the service on patient satisfaction and the pharmacy workload.

methodsA multidisciplinary team was formed to plan a mail-order service for refilling prescriptions for medications, and a survey was designed to evaluate patient satisfaction with the service. Patients were instructed to call the refill call center and order their medications at least 48 hours before their refill is due. The pharmacy workflow for refilling prescriptions was evaluated, and the time required with and without the mail-order service was documented, with a calculation of the time saved.

resultsAt 1 year after the mail-order service had been established, 14 200 prescriptions had been refilled through the service, with the majority (97.5%) dispensed within 48 hours of the order time. As per the survey conducted with 219 patients, on the overall satisfaction, 69.4% reported being highly satisfied with the service and 27.9% reported being satisfied. The problems reported with the service were delay in arrival (n = 23, 10.5%), medication-related errors (n = 9, 4.1%), cash-related error (n = 1, 0.45%), improper storage condition (n = 1, 0.45%), and delivery to the wrong address (n = 4, 1.8%). The service was also associated with reduced overall time for processing in the outpatient pharmacy service; for patients receiving their medications from the pharmacy, resulting in reduced patients' overall waiting time (from 11.4 to 8.2 minutes). The service resulted in saving of 0.4 full-time employee at 1 year of implementation.

conclusionsA mail-order service for refilling prescriptions within a hospital setting had positive outcomes on both patient satisfaction and the pharmacy workflow. The major issues were related to transportation and logistics.

Indexed as

managementmedication processoncology

Identifiers

PMID34720159
PMCPMC8554612
OpenAlexW3035500671

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.