Pharmacists working at hospitals in Taiwan tend to have too heavy a workload, which leaves them little time to advise patients, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation showed.
“This can be dangerous for patients because overloaded pharmacists could commit more mistakes,” foundation secretary-general Yu Wen-shih (余雯世) said.
The survey, conducted from Jan. 19 through Jan. 21 at 20 medical centers, found that on average, pharmacists served 450 patients per day during the three-day period leading to the Lunar New Year holiday.
More than one quarter of pharmacists were so busy that they could not provide verbal information to patients, the survey showed.
Among those who managed to do so, 80 percent only spoke if the patients asked questions, with conversations averaging just 35 seconds, the results showed.
Also, 6.3 percent of pharmacists did not ascertain the identity of patients before giving them medicine, while only 25 percent of pharmacists offered information verbally about possible side effects, the survey showed.
“This increases the chances of giving the wrong medicine to the wrong person and increases the likelihood of mistakes,” Yu said.
Kao Ya-hui (高雅慧), an associate professor at National Cheng Kung University’s Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, said it took at least seven minutes and 32 seconds for a pharmacist to fill a single prescription form and that it would take another two minutes and nine seconds to give verbal instructions on the proper use of drugs.
Therefore, the maximum number of prescriptions handled by each pharmacist should be 64 per day, Kao said.
However, a Department of Health estimate in 2004 showed that on average, pharmacists in Taiwan completed one prescription in 2.9 minutes, with each pharmacist handling as many as 165 prescriptions per day. The number was significantly higher than the maximum limit of 30 prescriptions per day in the US and 40 in Japan, the foundation said.
The Bureau of National Health Insurance sets the limit at 100 prescriptions per day.
The foundation said hospitals in Taiwan had not paid enough attention to the quality of service provided by their pharmacists because this aspect was not part of the evaluation criteria at hospitals.
Before solutions are found to educate and train more pharmacists, Yu said the foundation would suggest that the government implement a strict mechanism for prescriptions.
“For instance, a pharmacy’s performance should also be evaluated on an annual basis as a reference for people when they need to see a doctor,” Yu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as