JOURNAL ARTICLE

Effects of inpatient pharmacy technician staffing levels on medication safety events and metrics.

  • Published In: Journal of Patient Safety & Risk Management, 2025, v. 30, n. 2. P. 92 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Capparelli, Anastazia; Brancaccio, Adamo; Renius, Karl; Hurren, Jeff 3 of 3

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between pharmacy technician staffing levels, pharmacy-related voluntary risk reports, and medication safety process metrics at the University of Michigan Health from February 2020 to September 2022. The study found no significant association between pharmacy technician staffing shortages and the rate of medication safety risk reports or adherence to barcode scanning during medication dispensing. Instead, the dispensing pharmacy location and total dispensing volume were stronger predictors of reported medication errors, which most commonly involved late doses, wrong doses, and omitted doses. The findings highlight limitations of voluntary risk reporting for quantitatively assessing medication safety and suggest that staffing impacts on medication errors may require alternative research methods beyond voluntary reports.

Additional Information

  • Source:Journal of Patient Safety & Risk Management. 2025/04, Vol. 30, Issue 2, p92
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Health and Medicine
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:2516-0435
  • DOI:10.1177/25160435251321570
  • Accession Number:185137180
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Journal of Patient Safety & Risk Management is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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