CORTUNA, LACSON, MACARAEG, Interim Assessment no.

2
MENDOZA, PAGKALIWAGAN, YAMBAO
BUSPROS
BSBA 211B

C.1 REQUIREMENT NO. 1

A. Who are the actors/participants in this process and what are their roles?

1. Customers – Here, the customers are to whom the service and products are for. In the
process as seen in the given case, customers have the following actions
a. Decide whether to drop off their prescriptions in the drive through or the front
counter
b. If front counter, decide whether to wait for 15 minutes to 1 hour, or leave the
prescription and pick it up later.
c. If decided to pick it up later, choose a pick-up time.
d. When called for permission on a drug replacement, decide whether to approve or
not.
e. Pick the drugs at their chosen pick-up time.
f. Pay as necessary.
2. Pharmacy Technicians – they assist pharmacists and are the ones who handle most of
the prescriptions. In this case, the technicians perform the following actions:
a. Technicians asks the customer for pick up time if they decide to pick up their drugs
later.
b. Puts the prescription in a box labeled with the hour preceding the pick-up time.
c. A technician picks all the prescriptions due for the current hour.
d. They then put the prescription details into the pharmacy system.
e. Collects the prescribed drugs from the shelves and puts them in a bag with the
prescription labeled on it.
f. When the customer arrives, retrieves the prescription and asks the customer for
payment as necessary.
3. Pharmacist – they act as supervisors of the process. Although seen to be with less action
in the case given, pharmacists are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that patients’
prescriptions are filled accurately and safely. To be specific, the actions performed by the
pharmacist are as follows:
a. Any alarms raised during the automated DUR are reviewed more thoroughly by a
pharmacist.
b. Calls the doctor who gave the permission as necessary.
c. Calls the doctor and/or patient for permission to do a drug replacement.
d. After filling the bag with drugs as prescribed, the pharmacist double-checks if the
prescription has been filled correctly.
4. Pharmacy System – although not a person, the pharmacy system is an actor in the
process as it performs actions that are part of the process as described in the case. These
actions include:
 a. Performing an automated check called the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) which
determines if the prescription contains drugs that are incompatible with the
customer’s data.
b. Performs an insurance check which examines what type of insurance policy the
customer had and how much the customer has to pay according to their insurance
policy.
5. Doctor – the doctor acts as a support to the process. This means that his actions are
situational and some of it happen before the process occur – but worth mentioning
nevertheless. In the given case, the doctor performed the following actions:
a. Gave the prescription to the customer.
b. When the pharmacist asks the doctor for confirmation after finding irregularities in
the DUR, approves or disapproves the drug prescription.
c. When the pharmacist asks for permission for drug replacement, decides whether
to approve the drug replacement.

B. Who are the customers?

The case did not specify the profiles or any demographic of the customer. However, the
description hints that customers are highly likely to be workers. The case describes how
customers would place their prescriptions early to be picked up later after their shifts, typically
between 5pm – 6pm. They may also be patients to whom the doctor prescribed the medicines
for. However, this is not necessarily so considering that a different person may be buying it
for them.

C. Enumerate (numbered) in sequence the tasks/activities in this process.

1. Start. Customer requests for prescriptions to be filled.

2. Ask customer if he or she is willing to wait.
2.1. If yes, customer waits till pick up.
2.2. If no, proceed to 3.
3. Customer drops the prescription.
4. Technician asks for pick-up time.
5. Puts the prescription in a box labeled with the hour preceding the pick-up time.
6. Technician picks all prescriptions due for the current hour.
7. Technician enters the details of each prescription into the pharmacy system.
8. Pharmacy system performs Drug Utilization Review (DUR). DUR examines the prescription
for any drugs that are incompatible to other drugs that had been dispensed to the customer
before.
9. DUR then examines the customer’s basic profile to determine if the prescribed drug is
appropriate for his/her data (e.g. age).
10. If any drug is incompatible or inappropriate, call the doctor who prescribed the drug for
confirmation.
10.1.If the doctor does not approve of the prescription, refuse to deliver the drug.
10.2.Otherwise, proceed to 11.
11. Pharmacy system performs an insurance check which determines the insurance policy of the
customer.
12. If the insurance policy does not cover some of the drugs that are in the prescription, check for
replacements which the insurance policy covers.
12.1.For drugs with replacement, call the doctor and the patient to determine whether a drug
replacement is possible.
12.1.1. If determined possible, replace the drug with another that is covered with the
insurance policy.
12.1.2. If not possible, ask for payment later.
13. After DUR and insurance check, technician collects the drugs from the shelves, puts them in
a bag, and staplers the prescription in the bag.
14. Pharmacist double-checks the bag to see if the prescription has been filled correctly.
14.1.1. If prescription is filled correctly, proceed to 15.
14.1.2. If not filled correctly, go back to 13.
15. Pharmacist seals the bag and puts it in the pick-up area.
16. Upon the arrival of the customer, technician checks whether the drugs are covered by the
insurance.
16.1.1. If some drugs are not covered by insurance, ask for appropriate payment.
16.1.2. If drugs are fully covered, proceed to 17.
17. Give the drugs to the customer. End.

D. What value does the process deliver to its customers?

The process as described in the case offers two main values that customers would most
appreciate – safety as provided by the thoroughness of the process and time flexibility as given
by the option to pick the prescription later.

1. The described process can be seen with three different forms of examination – Drug
Utilization Review, insurance check, and quality checks. This ensures customers that their
prescriptions are handled thoroughly and the products handed to the customers are safe.
2. The case describes the process for when a customer opts to pick their prescribed drugs
later. This option allows customers flexibility in time management as they do not have to
wait for 15 – 1hr waiting, but instead could proceed with their daily goings and come back
at the pharmacy later.

E. What potential issues do you foresee this process might have?

It’s worth noting that the process as described in the case is different from what our group
is used to in local pharmacy. Because of the difference it had been easy to spot potential issues.
The following are the issues seen by our group:

1. Time Consuming.
- Starting with what seems to be the most noticeable, the process consumes more time
than what we are used to. The case says that customers would have to wait for 15
minutes to 1 hour depending on the current workload. This duration was even the
reason why customers would rather opt for picking it up later than getting the
prescribed products immediately.
2. Prone to overload
 - In busier hours, new workload may come in even before finishing the current workload.
This is partly due to the time it takes to complete one process. However, procedure #6
(see section c.) is more likely to be the cause of this overload. Technicians collect only
what is due in the current hour when they could be processing some of the
prescriptions due later during laxer hours.
3. Demands multitasking
- When loads are high, workers may need to go beyond their usual routine and perform
other tasks that they may not be assigned on just to keep up with the increasing
workload.
4. Lack of Situational Assessment
- The process as seen in the two-paragraph description does not specify what to do in
case the DUR alarms an incompatibility and the doctor does not respond to the calls
of the pharmacist. This is just among the examples of the lack of information in the
process.
5. DUR checks customer data, not the patient’s data.
- On the sole basis of the case as described, the DUR checks whether the drug
prescribed is incompatible to the customer’s data and previous purchases. However,
more often than not, customers aren’t the consumers of the product bought. In
practical examples, a grandson buys the medicine for his sickly grandparent or a
mother would avail the drugs for her sick child. Checking the customer’s data does not
guarantee any safety or accuracy if another person is the one consuming it. This may
be simply a shortcoming in explanation of what DUR does, but if we are to base solely
on the explanation given on the excerpt, the DUR process is faulty.

F. What information would you need to collect in order to analyze these issues?

1. Time Consuming
- Duration of the individual process.
- Duration of the process when workloads are piled
- Highest number of prescriptions to process in an hour
2. Prone to overload
- Number of prescriptions needed to be filled in every hour.
- Hour with the highest number of prescriptions.
- The number of the prescriptions in the busiest hour.
3. Demands multitasking
- How many processes occur at the same time on the busiest hour?
- Employees having to perform actions outside of their usual routine.
4. Lack of situational assessment
- What do employees usually do when the doctor does not respond to the calls for drug
confirmation?
- What do employees usually do when the doctor does not respond to the calls for drug
replacement?
- Feedback from employees regarding confusion in the process.
5. DUR checks customer data, not the patient’s data. \
 - Review the DUR process.

G. What possible changes do you think could be made to this process in order to address
the above issues?

1. Update the pharmacy system if possible. The case did not specify whether the system is
outdated. However, considering that the process takes 15 minutes on an average
suggests that there must be parts of the process that can work faster such as the
pharmacy system.
2. Work on the prescriptions ahead of time. Most pick-up times are set at 5pm – 6pm. This
means that the other hours have less workloads. It is best for the pharmacy to work on
prescriptions ahead of time, especially on laxer hours, to minimize the piling of workload.
3. Evaluate the patient’s data instead of the customer. This may mean that the pharmacy
system has to be redesigned. Alternatively, they may also input the name of the patient
as written in the document instead of the name of the customer.
4. Create and countercheck a process map. Creating a process map helps clear the process
to every employee as well as troubleshooting the process for potential issues. Inviting a
professional may add to the effectivity of this approach. Once a process map is created,
each possible actors in the process should countercheck the process created to scrutinize
it for possible mistakes.

C.1 REQUIREMENT NO. 2

A. Create and design a NEW flow chart symbol.

B. Identify a name for the NEW flowchart symbol created.

Multiple Options
Decision Symbol

C. Write a 5-sentence description for the NEW flowchart symbol.

The figure above is the multiple options decision symbol. The symbol depicts a
pentagon with five points with each point connecting to the next procedure. This is an innovation
to the diamond decision symbol that is generally used for yes or no decision making. This symbol,
unlike its inspiration, allows processes to make decisions with three or more options. Practically,
this is used to divide processes into four categories, leading to subprocesses.
D. Create a flowchart for a simple process and show how the NEW flowchart symbol is
used.

Breakfast Routine of the Week

START. Wake up.

Check calendar.

Eat pandesal. What day is Eat instant pancit canton

today?

Wednesday and Saturday Sunday

Eat egg fried rice. Eat donuts

END.