抄録
Patients' waiting times in a community pharmacy closely correlate with prescription dispensing times. Therefore, to decrease patients' stress and present an index in dispensing operations, various factors affecting prescription dispensing were analyzed, and a time-prediction model was constructed. The time from when a prescription was accepted (ie, handed in by a patient) to its checking, as well as time-factors affecting dispensing and checking, were measured at Kitayurakucho Pharmacy. Additional aspects were taken into account, such as: acceptance time, whether questions needed to be asked of the prescribing physician, medicine-counting, number of pharmacists present, and number of patients in the waiting area. Thereafter, a statistical prediction model for waiting time was constructed. It was found that drug counting and congestion level significantly related to waiting time. A multivariate regression model with two such parameters indicated a highly accurate prediction level. It is expected that prediction of the waiting time with this model will be useful for alleviation of the patients' stress.
