Articles on Pharmacy Design

USP 797 Pharmacy Design Commission

Bernstein & Associates, Architects has been selected to provide pharmacy design services for a new hospital in New York State. Pharmacy design consulting services include: pharmacy planning, pharmacy... read more...

Modern Pharmacy Design by Karim Rashid

Walking in a pharmacy means instinctively thinking about health or health problems. But this unique Oaza Zdravlja Pharmacy was designed to offer a different view on health issues and describe the “beautiful intricacies of the human body and healing process” through its contemporary design... read more...

Verna Pharmacy in Malta is Full of Light and Colour

Sartoretto Verna opens its first pharmacy in Malta, one of the most beautiful islands of the Mediterranean. The young and fresh atmosphere suits the resort town of Qawra perfectly. An environment full of light, bright colors and an elegant modern design make a unique pharmacy, which appeals to tourists and locals alike... read more...

Winn-Dixie Regains Lost Ground with New Pharmacy, Design Efforts

Nothing shows a retailer that its revitalization efforts are working quite like a thumbs-up from customers. For Winn-Dixie Stores, that vote of confidence came in mid-February, when its pharmacy business was among 40 U.S. companies honored as 2011 “customer service champions” by J.D. Power and Associates... read more...

USP 797 Pharmacy Design Project in California Completed

Bernstein & Associates, Architects is pleased to announce that a USP 797 hospital pharmacy that the firm designed in California has been recently completed and successfully occupied... read more...

Walgreens Unveils New Pharmacy Design at Technology Conference

At the TEDMED conference, held last month in San Diego, Walgreens showcased the new pharmacy, health, and wellness experience it is unveiling at stores in the Chicago and Indianapolis markets... read more...

“USP 797 Consulting Firm Selected to Provide USP797 Consulting on New Pharmacies in New York”

“USP797.org, Inc., the only consulting company in the United States focused exclusively on USP 797, is pleased to announce that it recently completed a USP 797 consulting assignment on two new sterile compounding pharmacies in New York." read more...

"Mail Order Pharmacy Design – A Case Study" © William N. Bernstein, LEED®AP, AIA, Pharmacy Design (www.pharmacydesign.org)

Mail order pharmacies are different from other types of pharmacies, in that the pharmacy staff does not interact personally with the patient, instead they ship out all of their prescription sales via mail or delivery services such as UPS and Fed Ex. Like many pharmacy types, however --- such as hospital pharmacies and outpatient pharmacies --- mail order pharmacies must be planned for maximum efficiency of prescription delivery. Space, construction dollars and staffing budgets face the same need as all businesses in this economy to do more with less read more...

"Pharmacy Design Trends", © Ian Janer and William N. Bernstein, LEED®AP, AIA, Pharmacy Design (www.pharmacydesign.org)

Pharmacy design has been undergoing dramatic changes in recent years, in a number of areas. A main trend has been the need to modernize and automate the production, packaging, distribution, and provision of drugs, particularly of prescription drugs, which have to be monitored and secured at all times.  Modern pharmacies --- particularly hospital pharmacies --- are looking to establish an automated system that performs all the jobs from the clean room to the patient’s bedside. Great progress has been made in moving towards a coordinated, automated pharmacy system. Clients looking to design a pharmacy will want to be cognizant of these trends. read more...

A revised version of the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) 797 “Pharmaceutical Compounding—Sterile Preparations” regulation has been issued this year. All health facilities that prepare compounded sterile preparations (CSPs)—pretty much all hospital pharmacies and many off-site pharmacies—should be aware of this new regulation, whether or not it is adopted within the facility’s particular state. read more...

"Impact of Interruptions and Distractions on Dispensing Errors in an Ambulatory Care Pharmacy", (c) Flynn EA, Barker KN, Gibson JT, Pearson RE, Berger BA, Smith LA, American Journal of Health System Pharmacy, June 2009

A possible association between interruptions and distractions and the occurrence of dispensing errors was investigated. Fourteen pharmacists and 10 technicians in an ambulatory care pharmacy at a general medical-surgical hospital were tested for distractibility by using the group embedded figures test (GEFT) as well as for visual acuity and hearing. They were videotaped as they filled prescriptions during a 23-day period in 1992.  read more...

USP Chapter 797 on Enforceability, (c) USP 797 Guidebook to Pharmaceutical Compounding-Sterile Preparations, 25 August 2008

"In the USP 797 Guidebook to Pharmaceutical Compounding-Sterile Preparations, USP “attempts to clarify the enforceability” of Chapter 797. The guidebook is a compilation of the full text of Chapter 797, public comments with responses from the committee which formulated the document, and five pages addressing enforceability." read more...

How Can Information Technology Improve Patient Safety and Reduce Medication Errors in Children's Health Care?, (c) Rainu Kaushal, Kenneth N. Barker and David W. Bates, Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, September 2001

The 1999 Institute of Medicine report dramatically increased public awareness of medical error. It estimated that each year 44 000 to 98 000 people die of an iatrogenic injury, either as a main or a contributing cause, and that 1.3 million are injured by medical treatment. The mortality estimates were extrapolated primarily from 2 large studies, one in New York State (the Harvard Medical Practice Study) and the other in Colorado and Utah. Even though some controversy surrounds the accuracy of these mortality estimates, all agree that the number of deaths attributable to iatrogenic injury is too high. In this article we review the epidemiology of medication errors and adverse drug events (ADEs) and discuss the evidence for the potential benefit of information technology in reducing them.  read more...

"Relationships Between Ambient Sounds and the Accuracy of Pharmacists' Prescription-Rilling Performance", (c) Flynn EA, Barker KN, Gibson JT, Human Factors in Health Care, December 1996

Dispensing errors are a problem on a national level, at a rate of about 4 errors per day in a pharmacy filling 250 prescriptions daily. An estimated 51.5 million errors occur during the filling of 3 billion prescriptions each year.  read more...

"Re-engineering a Pharmacy Work System and Layout to Facilitate Patient Counseling", (c) Lin AC, Jang R, Sedani D, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1996.

The development and evaluation of a new work system and facility design for a chain of community pharmacies are described. A new work system was developed to optimize utilization of pharmacist and technician time and allow the pharmacy to increase patient counseling without adding personnel. In the new system, pharmacists would review prescriptions, check technicians' work, and dispense prescriptions, counseling patients as needed; technicians would enter prescriptions into the pharmacy computer and fill them. read more...

"Technology and Automation in Pharmaceutical Care", (c) Felkey BG, Barker KN., Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 1996

Pharmacy computer systems in the future will help pharmacists assess patients' medication needs, evaluate drug therapy, and manage patient information. Technology companies are developing systems for automatic dispensing and for distributing medications from nurses' stations in hospitals and long-term care facilities. read more...

"Design and Evaluation of a Sterile Compounding Facility", (c) Allan EL, Barker KN, Severson RW, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1995

The design and evaluation of a sterile compounding center for a large community teaching hospital are described. The new sterile products area was redesigned to improve efficiency by minimizing staff travel and to incorporate recommendations of the ASHP Technical Assistance Bulletin on Quality Assurance for Pharmacy-prepared Sterile Products. The design approach combined strategic planning with master facilities planning.  read more...

"Patient Treatment Adherence - Facility Design and Counseling Skills", (c) Allan EL, Suchanek-Hudmon KL, Berger BA., Pharmacy Technology, 1992

The design of a counseling area can indirectly affect the quality of the interaction between the patient and healthcare provider, primarily in terms of its effect on communication. The key features that should be included in the design of the area are different levels of privacy (visual and auditory), "soft" interior decoration, and accommodation of people with disabilities. read more...

"Illumination and Errors in Dispensing", (c) Buchanan TL, Barker KN, Gibson JT, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1991

The relationship between the level of illumination and the prescription-dispensing error rate in a high-volume Army outpatient pharmacy was investigated. The prescription error rate was determined by direct, undisguised observation and retrospective prescription review under three levels of illumination... read more...

"Effect of Technological Changes in Information Transfer on the Delivery of Pharmacy Services", (c) Barker KN, Allan EL, Swensson ES, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1989

Personal computer technology has arrived in health care. Specific technological advances are optical disc storage, smart cards, voice recognition, and robotics.  read more...

"Effects of Simulated Facility-Design Changes on Outpatient Efficiency", (c) Lin AC, Barker KN, Hassall T, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1988

The potential effects of using the Baker drug counter or the Systamodule pharmacy fixture, or both, on the efficiency of the current outpatient pharmacy system at the National Institutes of Health were evaluated by computer simulation. It was hypothesized that the use of these two devices would reduce (1) the prescription-filling time (RxFT) and (2) the distance traveled (DT) by pharmacists in filling individual prescriptions.  read more...

"Quality and Comprehensiveness of the National Drug Code Directory on Magnetic Tape", (c) Gibson GT, Barker KN, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1988

The quality and comprehensiveness of the FDA's National Drug Code Directory (NDCD) in magnetic tape form was evaluated. The internal quality of the tape was measured by performing cross-checks of the four record types found on the tape and by checking for the presence of "illegal" characters. read more... 

"National Survey of Hospital Pharmacy Facilities Space Allocations and Functions", (c) Alexander VB, Barker KN., American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1986

Space allocations for hospital pharmacies and the demand on these facilities in terms of the external environment and functions performed are described. A 12-page questionnaire was sent in July 1982 to the chief pharmacists in a random sample of 1846 hospitals in the United States stratified by 10 hospital types.  read more...

"National survey of Hospital Pharmacy Facilities: Introduction", (c) Barker KN, Alexander VB, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1986 

This paper introduces three articles that report results of a national survey of hospital pharmacy facilities conducted in July 1982. A historical perspective of pharmacists' involvement in facilities planning and examples of internal and external factors influencing the optimal design of hospital pharmacies are presented.  read more...