Graduation Year

2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Industrial Engineering

Major Professor

Michael Weng, Ph.D.

Keywords

Medicine, Pharmacists, Corporate, Ethics, Survey

Abstract

This study determined impacts on reported medication errors in pharmacy by analyzing the culture in an undisclosed pharmacy in Florida. SPSS Statistical Software was used to determine the relationship between medication errors and workplace culture. Workplace culture was analyzed by distributing a 43-question culture survey to the pharmacists. There were two treatment groups, Control and Intervention, and the culture survey was two-fold, pre-survey and post-survey, utilizing identical questions to note the difference in a comparative analysis. During the pre-survey, the pharmacists in the Intervention Group received an informational sheet which contained information on a non-punitive culture as well as information about the National Practitioner Databank.

The data were collected, compiled into an Excel spreadsheet, and statistically analyzed using SPSS to test the effect due to time (pre versus post intervention), treatment group (control versus intervention) and the interaction between time and treatment group. Of primary interest was knowing if the change from pre to post was significantly different for the two treatment groups using a statistical significance of 0.05. There was a 26.7% increase in the total number of medication errors reported from pre to post survey as compared to the number of reported medication errors for the prior year. It was determined that organizational culture plays a role in the moral make-up of its individuals. Additionally, it was determined that a multi-culture approach was needed to develop a non-punitive culture. Developing a non-punitive culture in pharmacies across the United States is essential to accurate reporting of medication errors.

This study will showcase a few attributes - survey development, culture assessment, and culture development - held by Industrial Engineers. Although this study focuses primarily on pharmacy services, very few healthcare facilities employee industrial engineers. Hopefully, this study will be a gateway for industrial engineers to enter into the healthcare industry.

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