Human Factors Investigation for HAC Reductions at Children’s of Minnesota - Children’s Hospitals & Clinics of MN

Project summary:

At the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, HFSL researchers identified two needs of the retail pharmacy for children. First, the retail pharmacy must reduce both the risk and frequency of errors. Second, there was a need to improve the efficiency of performing primary pharmacy tasks. The primary source of less than optimal performance and the risk of error was thought to be interruptions. The team used multiple methods to identify potential interventions to reduce the severity of interruptions, improve efficiency, and reduce error in the retail pharmacy including interviews, observations, and a hierarchical task analysis. Proposed modifications included increased staff during periods of high work demand, changes to counter space, and changes to bags intended to contain refrigerated components.