Sitting in his office in Saint Gabriel's Hospital, Dr. Monteagudo, the head of the hospital's pharmacy, was mulling over his chances for reducing spending: "It is the first week of February and the hospital's general manager has already given me an ultimatum. I do not have any clue how we are to free up resources and achieve the savings we will need to adjust to the budget cuts that the Ministry of Health has made for 2011." Having to accustom with draconian budgeting was not Dr. Monteagudo's only predicament. He was also confronting some operational challenges that required prompt action, such as the issue of the embarrassingly long lines at the hospital's pharmacy.
The dilemma was so clear that other department heads even made jokes while conversing over coffee: "Monteagudo, what is happening at your pharmacy? Are you selling football tickets?" Monteagudo and his team had tried everything they could to cut back on the workload at the drugstore in hopes of easing the issue. Specifically, some months back they had raised the levels of medication they dispensed to outpatients at every visit. ("That means they won't have to come back as often."). Though at first it seemed to solve the issue, it also had some serious collateral implications: "It's true that our outpatients are seeing us fewer times per year, making the lines shorter. Hence we also have to consider the number of drugs that patients will need to throw away at home if their treatment plans change or come to an end in between their visits to the hospital pharmacy."
PUBLICATION DATE: October 01, 2012 PRODUCT #: IES505-PDF-ENG
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