Thatchatorn Ratsameekitikunl. Development and assessment of performance indicators for the hospital Pharmacy Department at Soongnern Hospital using a balanced scorecard . Master's Degree(Pharmacy Administration). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2004.
Development and assessment of performance indicators for the hospital Pharmacy Department at Soongnern Hospital using a balanced scorecard
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate performance indicators
for the hospital pharmacy department at Soongnern Hospital using the Balanced
Scorecard (BSC) concept. Two services, the outpatient pharmaceutical service and
drug inventory service, were evaluated. Four data record forms were used as the
research tools. The data record forms included performance assessment, drug
inventory customer satisfaction, an accuracy test for drug inventory officers, and
assessment of the indicators. Cross-sectional data in the fiscal year 2003 of
Soongnern pharmacy department were collected.
Eighteen indicators of each service were selected by Soongnern pharmacists
and Soongnern hospital executives. These indicators were used to measure the
performance of the pharmacy department. The appropriateness and the quality of the
indicators developed by the BSC concept and the indicators provided by the Institute
of Hospital Quality Improvement & Accreditation (HA) were assessed by two groups
of evaluators. These two groups were hospital administrators and academics, and the
hospital pharmacists. These evaluators evaluated the two sets of indicators against the
standard criteria for good indicators in outpatient pharmaceuticals, drug inventory, and
combined services. Paired t-test was used in the comparison between the mean score
of the HA and the BSC indicators at a 0.05 significant level.
The results showed that both experts and pharmacists indicated that the overall
mean score and the mean score for drug inventory services of the HA and the BSC
indicators were significantly different (P < 0.05). On the other hand, the mean score
for the outpatient pharmaceutical service was found to be the same. Although, the
BSC indicators had a higher number of indicators, and hence may have required more
time for the data collection process, they completely covered the important issues such
as the finance and learning & growth of the hospital. For the drug inventory services,
the BSC indicators covered more important details when compared to the HA
indicators. Therefore, the BSC indicators could better forecast and improve the
hospital ability to survive in the future. In addition, when the key data is collected as
a routine job, the difficulty of data collection will slowly decrease and finally
disappear.