Search

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has challenged health systems to find innovative ways of delivering patient care while protecting staff from infection with the virus As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to evolve establishing ?hot spots? in various areas of the country, clinicians have learned more about caring for these patients This has required the Department of Pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to constantly update the approach it has taken during this time, and the guidance which is provided for the pharmaceutical care of these patients Because Philadelphia was in the initial stages of the pandemic within the United States, operations within the Department of Pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital needed to be redesigned This brief report provides an example of the swift changes that were made in the pharmacy practice model at a large academic medical center Herein we describe the impact of the pandemic on the Department of Pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with a focus on clinical and operations aspects The areas that will be highlighted in this report represent areas that required rapid and transformational change to the operations and/or clinical care in order to protect the health of pharmacists and allow them to continue to provide the necessary level of patient care This article is protected by copyright All rights reserved

Purpose The application of lean methodology in an initiative to redesign the formulary maintenance process at an academic medical center is described. Summary Maintaining a hospital formulary requires clear communication and coordination among multiple members of the pharmacy department. Using principles of lean methodology, pharmacy department personnel within a multihospital health system launched a multifaceted initiative to optimize formulary management systemwide. The ongoing initiative began with creation of a formulary maintenance redesign committee consisting of pharmacy department personnel with expertise in informatics, automation, purchasing, drug information, and clinical pharmacy services. The committee met regularly and used lean methodology to design a standardized process for management of formulary additions and deletions and changes to medications’ formulary status. Through value stream analysis, opportunities for process and performance improvement were identified; staff suggestions on process streamlining were gathered during a series of departmental kaizen events. A standardized template for development and dissemination of monographs associated with formulary additions and status changes was created. In addition, a shared Web-based checklist was developed to facilitate information sharing and timely initiation and completion of tasks involved in formulary status changes, and a permanent formulary maintenance committee was established to monitor and refine the formulary management process. Conclusion A clearly defined, standardized process within the pharmacy department was developed for tracking necessary steps in enacting formulary changes to encourage safe and efficient workflow.