Scientific Management for Healthcare Quality Improvement: The Practice of Six Sigma DMAIC in Prescription Pre-Review Work

Abstract

Background

Prescription pre-review (PPR) is an important part of hospital pharmacy management, which aims to ensure the rationality, safety and effectiveness of prescriptions. However, due to the extensive and specialised nature of prescription review work, coupled with the high work intensity in hospitals, prescription errors occur from time to time, affecting the quality of medical care and patient safety.

Objective

Six Sigma DMAIC management method, as a systematic approach to improve service quality by reducing process variation and defects, was applied for the first time in the rectification practice of PPR work in our hospital. In this study, we investigated the practice of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology and its effectiveness in our hospital's PPR work.

Methods

This study analyzes and compares the improvement of PPR from January to September 2023 after the implementation of Six Sigma DMAIC method with the same period in 2022 before the implementation by defining the problem, measuring the current situation, analysing the causes, improving the process and controlling the effect. The improvement effectiveness was also reflected by the prescription compliance rate of key drugs such as key monitoring drugs, intravenous drugs, and antimicrobial drugs, as well as the clinical satisfaction survey.

Results

The overall quality of PPR has been significantly improved compared with the previous period, and the error rate of important prescriptions, including the prescriptions of key monitoring drugs, intravenous drugs, and so on, has been significantly reduced, and the job satisfaction has been increased, so that patient safety and quality of medical care have been effectively guaranteed.

Conclusions

The introduction of Six Sigma DMAIC management methodology provides a scientific improvement path for PPR work, and provides an effective reference and important guidance for further improvement of the quality of pharmacy services and pharmacy management work in the future.