Drive-up prescription refill service at a large Navy medical facility

Abstract

A drive-up prescription refill service at a large naval medical facility is described. A pharmacy drive-up refill service was created to reduce customer congestion, to reduce demand for parking, and to improve customer service. The drive-up program is staffed by a full-time pharmacy technician, a full-time volunteer, and a part-time pharmacy technician who assists during lunches, breaks, and peak hours. Customers must request refills by telephone, and requests are recorded by a pharmacy answering machine. Recorded requests are transcribed, processed, and checked by a pharmacist in the main pharmacy. Refills ready for pickup are transported to the drive-up site twice daily. If a refill is missing, the customer is asked to park, fill out a missing refill form, and pick up the refill at the main pharmacy. Approximately 700 prescription refills are processed and filled daily at the drive-up service. The addition of a drive-up refill service reduced customer visits to the outpatient pharmacy department by about one third and reduced demand for parking by a projected 360-400 parking spaces per day. The error rate for missing refills is less than 0.5%. The only negative consequence of the drive-up service is less interaction between the customer and the pharmacy staff for counseling. A drive-up refill service at a large naval medical facility reduced customer congestion, reduced parking demand, and improved customer service at the outpatient pharmacy department.