Refusing to work with someone

[PtitpupUK]

Is it allowed? I am an ACT, and I am well aware that if I make a mistake my head will get the chop as well as the pharmacist's.
If there is a dispenser who makes a habit of making mistakes and not following SOPs/general dispensary rules, am I allowed to refuse to check their prescriptions?

[crit care]

if you don't check them then who will....sounds unfair to make the pharmacist to check scripts just because you're unwilling!!

what if the pharmacist turned round and said they are going to refuse to check.........

[Emmmm]

I would suggest that you first try to take a proactive approach in resolving this 'situation'. Why is this individual making mistakes, not following SOPs and breaking your company's rules? Have a private chat with your line manager and explain what you think is going wrong and how you would suggest resolving the situation. In the meantime, perhaps you can support your colleague without taking a punitive approach.

By refusing to check your colleague's work you will be creating an additional workload for your pharmacist and the end result is that your patients may have to wait longer for their prescription. I'm guessing your store has an ACT to free up your pharmacist for other duties--e.g. MURs.

[PtitpupUK]

Thanks Crit Care and Emmmm, I do appreciate your point of views.
Pharmacist is aware of the situation, and understands my view of the situation. Other pharmacists have been complaining about the same person.
Compared to other people I have been working with and training, she seems very slow at grasping it. I mean veeeery slow. Actually it's down to a point where the problems in getting trained seem they might be inherent to her IYSWIM.
I just feel that there's just no way forward, and that there are only so many times one can repeat the same instructions over and over again. I just worry that the more I get exposed to repeating errors, the more likely one day one will slip through the net. I thought SOPs and good practice were put in place to minimize the risk of an error, if this step is just botched, this leaves me more at risk. And this is a real concern to me. Same as other pharmacists have been complaining about working with untrained staff, here I am, and I so understand their worries.

[johnep]

The answer is unfortunately obvious, this person should NOT be working in the dispensary.
johnep

[PtitpupUK]

Thanks Johnep, this seems to be the thought that summarises the opinion of the rest of the staff as well...

[sparkybw]

It's all very well saying the dispenser doesn't follow instructions etc but are they adequately trained, are they being over-worked or asked to work quicker than they are capable of working? Many people are perfectly fine working at their own speed but if someone sits on their shoulder telling them to hurry up then they go to pieces and that is when mistakes occur.

What is the person's reaction to their mistakes? Are they bovvered! Or don't they care?

Can they see properly? Lots of people need glasses but don't wear them for vanity sake or for other reasons. It isn't rocket science to deal with a prescrition so if someone is constantly making errors then it is important to find out the reason why. There's a huge range of reasons why someone doesn't perform as required and it is important to find out what is really happening rather than simply saying I'm not going to work with them.

It's not your place to make any kind of decision about the dispenser. You have informed your line manager, and should put that in writing as well. After that you simply have to do your own job to the best of your abilities and hope that your line manager resolves the problem.

But, at the end of the day, if a mistake slips through then you are equally responsible for that mistake as it is your job to prevent mistakes. The knowledge that this dispenser makes mistakes should make you even more attentive to your checks.

[PtitpupUK]

Without going into too much detail, person has not made any progress with her NVQ2 for the past year. When put in front of errors, I get a sigh, huff and puff, and compared to all the other dispenser productivity is simply not there. That's why I can't understand there are still so many mistakes being made.
Line manager is going to demote the person to the shop, or so I was told, but she was still put in the dispensary last week. I guess I am getting somewhat fed up of getting told things would improve but they don't.
I am careful when I check, but going back and forth to report mistakes is disruptive. Plus I get told I have to help her with her training by reporting mistakes and to help her understand her mistakes, but when I get that kind of response I really don't want to waste my time anymore TBH. And if you listen to her, she's like the best dispenser ever, but the reason for everything is that she's not been given correct training, when she's had training, one to one training after that, and more training, and we're still complaining about the same things happening over and over again. We've trained other people properly in half the amount of time, it can't be our fault IMO

[Revolutionnaire]

Changing staff attitudes is important. It's good to correct them in a way that makes it feel like they are being benefited and make them aware of how important their job is.

Otherwise they might be more talented at being a healthcare assistant and carrying out services like diabetes testing.

[johnep]

Known as side ways promotion.
johnep