Impact of a Drug Information Service: Practitioner Hours Saved

Abstract

Objective To determine the workload and impact of a drug information (DI) inquiry service by measuring the number of Practitioner Hours Saved (PHS) and the associated monetary value. Methods During a 3-month study period, the time required to respond to DI requests was recorded to determine the PHS for all questions. Total PHS by practitioner type was determined and then totaled for all questions. Economic impact was estimated by multiplying PHS by the requesting practitioner's salary. Results A total of 308 responses were included in the 3-month study period analysis, which represented 266 PHS. This time-savings represented an estimated economic impact of $10,987, which can be extrapolated to $43,950 for a 1-year period. Conclusions PHS can be used to show the estimated value of one service component provided by a DI service to the health care system. It is a good measure of estimated practitioner time-savings provided by use of DI services and can be used to record workload statistics.