Pharmacy U news

Acute and chronic treatments go beyond health conditions. They also apply to many of the activities throughout life. People who bring an acute mentality to their physical fitness will likely not experience the same results as those who bring a chronic mindset to the same situation. How does this relate to pharmacy practice? A prime example is in the area of medication adherence.

The act of having someone in charge, responsible for the overall pharmacy operation, gives everyone structure, which is a foundational element of humans to build anything. Once this is established, the operators of any dispensary have someone to go to with problems, instead of living in the anxious environment of not knowing if or when their concerns will be resolved.

Any business that successfully creates and keeps a customer in a cost-effective way will make a profit. If for any reason, a business fails to attract new and sustain a certain number of customers, it will experience losses. And too many losses will eventually lead to business failure. It should go without saying that an important part of your pharmacy’s business strategy is to make money, but making money shouldn't be the sole purpose of your business.

I was working at the pharmacy in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania many years ago. We had a brand-new (remodelled) store, and we now had a drive-thru. As we adjusted to life with a drive-thru, I had one technician who struggled to use the comms system at the drive-thru and felt it was more appropriate (and convenient) to try to communicate with our patients and customers THROUGH the glass window. She would literally yell through the glass.

The way you leave a pharmacy will speak volumes to your character. Although many good things that you do will go unnoticed and other things will potentially become inflamed, you will sleep well at night knowing you left the place in the best spot possible. At the very least, you can set up a long-term schedule, ensure staff cross-training and provide a list of lead candidates. You will leave the pharmacy better than when you entered years ago.

We all want to get to better places, don’t we? What those better places look like will differ from one person to the next. Everyone has uphill dreams. Sadly, though, many have downhill habits that interfere with achieving those dreams. This is where good leadership becomes so valuable. The leader must define where the team is going and then help them get to that place.

The process of ending someone’s employment is a brutal one for everyone. However, our role is to take ownership of the process and outcome while leading everyone through it with respect and clarity.

Who knows where your next pharmacy hire will come from? People are our biggest investment yet we have little time to spend on dissecting résumés, making cold calls and conducting lame interviews. Over 15 years of being a pharmacist responsible for building teams, I have come to appreciate three ridiculously simple common traits familiar to the best staff that stuck.