Through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Queensland in 2020 and 2021, Redcliffe Hospital Pharmacy introduced a drive through prescription collection service to reduce foot traffic of vulnerable consumers with chronic conditions into the hospital, and to improve ability to provide comprehensive, consistent medication-related education, particularly during COVID-19 waves.
Drive-through prescription collection service
Initiative Type
Model of Care
Status
Deliver
Added
Last updated
Summary
Key dates
Jun 2020
Apr 2021
Aim
To increase the safety of consumers during COVID-19 waves by reducing their time spent on hospital grounds, whilst continuing to provide them with comprehensive and consistent medication-related education.
To increase the safety of staff and patients during COVID-19 waves by reducing the need for in-person interactions with other consumers.
Benefits
The waiting time for consumers on hospital grounds reduced by up to 96%, with these consumers not needing to leave their vehicles. Also, in the short time spent on the hospital grounds, consumers were mainly waiting in the safety and comfort of their own vehicles.
Not only were consumers very satisfied with this service improvement, but the community-based staff were also able to collect medicines in the same manner, again reducing foot traffic through the hospital grounds.
Background
Most consumers who utilised the hospital pharmacy services were considered vulnerable with chronic conditions and susceptible to infections , hence it was decided that reducing their time spent on hospital grounds was paramount for their safety.
Solutions Implemented
A comprehensive medication service with minimal face-to-face interaction was implemented.
Before driving through to collect their medications, consumers were provided with comprehensive medication counselling in the privacy of their homes via telehealth, which also allowed consumers to ask more in-depth questions than consumers may feel comfortable asking in the pharmacy waiting room.
Evaluation and Results
Waiting time on hospital grounds reduced to two minutes from up to one hour. Of the 140 consumers surveyed, 100% were either very satisfied or extremely satisfied with the service, over 90% wanted the service to continue beyond the pandemic situation, and 100% reported receiving sufficient or more than sufficient education regarding their medicines via telehealth.
Lessons Learnt
Although consumer acceptance of this change in model for medication collection was a pleasant surprise, the largest surprise was how well the idea was embraced by the hospital and wider community, with the service being awarded the ACHS Non-Clinical Service Delivery Award in 2020.
A small challenge was to establish workflow and staffing changes to accommodate for, and coordinate, the drive through service (including the use of telehealth in this setting) in a short period of time. However, staff embraced the changes as they quickly realised the safety benefits for both themselves and the consumers.
As this was initially a temporary and quickly initiated service, no signage was erected, nor allocation of specific parking areas. Consumer feedback indicated that this would be ideal if the service was to be continued. At times the parking area was at capacity, which reduced the efficiency of the service.
