- 6/4/2024
Many years ago, I was a floating pharmacist and I had responsibilities to schedule and provide coverage for more than a dozen stores. This was my first leadership role as a pharmacist outside of leading my store teams and patients. I now had the opportunity to lead dozens of pharmacists and work out schedules to keep families happy and stores open.
- 5/28/2024
Have you ever become angry or frustrated because someone didn’t do what you told them to do? Or have you ever not done something in the way you were instructed to do? We all have at one time or another!
- 5/21/2024
A bane of my existence in an earlier part of my pharmacy career came around prescription transfer coupons. The company I worked for at the time would put coupons in the weekly circular to invite and entice new patients to transfer some (or all) of their prescriptions to our pharmacy. These promotions would have good results to bring new patients to our pharmacy, but we would struggle to keep them. Why do you suppose that was?
- 5/14/2024
What difference can five minutes make for you? Will your pharmacy business be different? How about the way you interact with staff and patients? Or the way you do the jobs you do every day?
- 4/30/2024
The local pharmacy is a wonderful illustration of a place where leadership is required. Each member of the staff as well as each patient has unique needs. The leader recognizes the best way to serve each person is by tailoring the approach for each person and situation. This is definitely not a science, but an art form that develops over time as it is nurtured.
- 4/30/2024
I don’t know what your relationship is like with these three friends, but I invite and encourage you to be the best friend to today, just as he is to you. Do not count on tomorrow, for he is always accompanied by tons of anxiety. Learn from yesterday, but do not spend so much time that you are filled with regret over what you woulda, coulda, shoulda.
- 4/23/2024
Have you ever been knocked down? We all have. We have all been knocked down literally or figuratively before. And chances are, we will all be knocked down again. But is that such a bad thing?
- 4/16/2024
In the pharmacy, there are many decisions to make. Some are easy to make, others are much more difficult. The decisions are not only about patient care; they also include decisions about staffing, inventory management and contracting, and list goes on (and on).
- 4/9/2024
Are you able to inspire and motivate others to do the things that need to be done to get where they want to go? I have had far too many conversations with far too many pharmacists which highlight this struggle. I can recall one pharmacist telling me, "I can't get anyone to do what I want them to do." In another conversation a pharmacist told me "I don't know what to say to my patients."
- 4/2/2024
As you look at your pharmacy team, you may see some cups which are half empty as well as some that are half full. You may even see a cup or two that need a good wash. No matter the individual or collective state of your cups, take a moment to "refill the cups" of your team.
- 2/27/2024
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Some expectation of time was set and not met. We overpromise and under-deliver. This leads to frustration for the people we serve. In the pharmacy, my default wait time I’d tell patients to fill a prescription was 10 minutes. When I was able to produce the prescription in six minutes, the patient was happy. If I took 12 minutes, the patient was unhappy.
- 2/20/2024
You must continue to improve so that you can continue to advance your team on their mission. No one will follow a pharmacy leader promoting outdated philosophies and goals for long.
