What benefits can be found from exploring data?

Each year Master of Data Science and Innovation (MDSi) students tackle a large data project for their iLab subjects, working on challenges presented by industry partners. These subjects allow students to build their experience by working on real-world projects, where they look for business-focused solutions while testing their cutting-edge data science practices learnt in class. 

Last spring a team of MDSi students and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse teamed up to use pharmacy data to improve patient experience, workforce and operational efficiency and financial performance. We checked-in with Michael Soriano (Head of Pharmacy), who partnered with the students, to find out more about his iLab 1 project and working with the MDSi student team. 

Why did you decide to engage with the iLab subject? 

As a teaching hospital, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse really values our partnerships with various universities. The MDSi brochure was presented in one of our senior leadership meetings and I thought it fit perfectly with our core value of discovery. 

Pharmacists capture a lot of data in our day-to-day work, every prescription that we process has about 70 data points that we interpret, analyse, record and file away. I was interested to see what data science can tell me about the database that we have and also present it in a way that would be meaningful to other pharmacists and make a difference in the way we care for our patients. With this exercise, I wanted to explore what we could learn from the large amount of data that we keep.

What were your initial expectations of the Master of Data Science and Innovation (MDSi) students and the engagement? 

I didn’t really have a clear expectation at the start of the project as I have never worked on a data analytics project before. I did however expect an outside perspective on how we should be looking at data outside of excel spreadsheets and pivot tables. 

How did you collaborate with the MDSi students during the iLab project? 

I thought it would be really important to meet face-to-face and get to know our student partners; to show them what we do at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, share the mission and vision of the organisation and how we see this project contributing to our overall aim.

We organised a meeting and then gave the students a tour of the hospital and also went on the actual specifics of how we collect, use and store our pharmacy data. We then organised a weekly catch up to discuss the progress and any issues of the project. The students were very experienced in project management and really structured the meetings so we could get the most of our time. 

What have the benefits of participating in the iLab subjects been for Chris O’Brien Lifehouse?

It really opened our interest in using data and making it meaningful. We were able to learn how to present data in a way that is meaningful and easy to understand.

Learnings from the project have now been translated to other projects within the department and we have been using the principles and techniques used throughout the project to answer other questions within the department. 

Could you tell us a bit about the outcomes from the project and how the students work has or will be used by Chris O’Brien Lifehouse?

The project achieved all four goals that we set out from the start.

1. Workforce efficiency

This is a new way of thinking for the department and the initial data the students delivered has already changed how we roster the dispensary from a full day allocation to breaking it down to 3 sessions based on script volumes and processing times.

This will allow us to be able to make better, more cost-efficient decisions on leave cover based on critical times of the day rather than a full day at a station. This is still a concept, but this may allow us to have an additional 0.3-0.6 FTE to be on leave without additional cover or redeployment of this resource for non-dispensary duties like direct patient care. 

2. Patient experience

We have never tracked prescription processing times or set a goal for the team to achieve or set a benchmark for everyone to aim for. The data that the MDSi students delivered could also be used to inform our patients of our current processing times and allow them to make decisions on whether to wait or come back for their prescriptions. Making the process more transparent and data driven will hopefully help set expectations for our patients. 

3. Operational efficiency

Dispensing and Purchasing analysis have always been done at the end of the month and focused on high value items. The dashboard the students developed gives us daily, real-time monitoring of how efficient we are with purchasing so we can action errors quicker, apply for credits and return items as needed and maximise our Gross Profits. 

4. Financial performance

Budgeting and forecasting has always been a challenge for us due to the unpredictability of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The set of dashboards developed really would give the user a visualisation of usage, cost and GP trend which will be really valuable for forecasting impacts of pricing and reimbursement changes. The set of dashboards can give the user data on how to efficiently run the pharmacy, identifying what drugs are sales and cost drivers.