Drive-up pharmacy windows may fuel errors

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Consumers who pick up their prescriptions at a pharmacy drive-through window may be jeopardizing their safety for convenience, a U.S. researcher said.

Lead author Sheryl Szeinbach of Ohio State University said pharmacists who work at locations with drive-through windows believe the extra distractions associated with window service contribute to processing delays, reduced efficiency and even dispensing errors.

Szeinbach and colleagues surveyed 429 U.S. pharmacists working at pharmacies located within mass merchant retailers, traditional chain drugstores or independently owned shops.

The pharmacists were asked which factors had a positive or negative influence on errors in dispensing, communication between staff and pharmacists, prescription processing time, efficiency and physical mobility in the practice setting.

The study, published in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care, found responding pharmacists attributed about 80 percent of dispensing errors to cognitive problems that Szeinbach said could be associated with various disruptions that interfere with their work.

"The drive-through window poses a huge problem with respect to causing dispensing errors, contributing to communication errors, delaying processing and forcing staff to take more steps," Szeinbach said in a statement.

U.S. pharmacists make an estimated 5.7 errors per 10,000 prescriptions processed, or 2.2 million dispensing errors each year, the study said.