locum vs employee

[Tony Schofield]

Makes us good locums look even better though!

Indeed it does. That should never be forgotten.

[johnep]

Called in this evening as other locum had to go home early. for once we were quiet so I decided to try out the LDS eMUR on myself.

As about as bad as compass. Cursor has to be moved to next tick box instead of moving so as to help you. Thought I had finished, but no would not allow me to print out and several lines of read indicated where I had to tick boxes which I had thought were not relevant.

Tried again, and again and each time further lines of red appeared.

20 mins later and still not finished, if had been real pt I would have died of embarassment.

In the end time to go home so I got out by ticking completed box and it allowed me to go home.

I do not think I will try an MUR again. If I was the pt I would have become very impatient.

Help please from all those who can complete correctly on the consulting room cptr in 4 mins.
johnep

[Pharmanaut]

Called in this evening as other locum had to go home early. for once we were quiet so I decided to try out the LDS eMUR on myself.

As about as bad as compass. Cursor has to be moved to next tick box instead of moving so as to help you. Thought I had finished, but no would not allow me to print out and several lines of read indicated where I had to tick boxes which I had thought were not relevant.

Tried again, and again and each time further lines of red appeared.

20 mins later and still not finished, if had been real pt I would have died of embarassment.

In the end time to go home so I got out by ticking completed box and it allowed me to go home.

I do not think I will try an MUR again. If I was the pt I would have become very impatient.

Help please from all those who can complete correctly on the consulting room cptr in 4 mins.
johnep

How does the Pharmacy Manager MUR compare in your view?
I think its good the way they have integrated it to the patient history and Interventions.

[johnep]

Pharmacy Manager is a doddle compared to compass.
johnep

[DavidS]

Pharmacy Manager is a doddle compared to compass.
johnep

What's wrong with paper? Its the only chance for a 15 minute sitdown that you get in some of these places.

[johnep]

No facility for paper forms at multiples, cptr prints everything out.

My personal problem with paper is the bad hand writing I generate.
johnep

[The Druid]

Yep, you do a good day's work with a willingness to provide a top level pharmaceutical service, be flexible and reliable, and there is more work than you can shake a stick at. Even the big companies will be begging you to work for them then.
However they tend to be more restricted in their rates of pay (unless it suits them e.g. emergencies) and so they lose out on some of the good locums, and the independents will often pay more to have a reliable, hard working locum to provide them with a regular day off!

[BobD]

As an aged locum, I dispair at the quality of the younger members of our profession - it's not hard being a locum, OK you are there to carry the can at the end of the day, but that day can be made sooo much better, by fitting in with whats going on around you - my locums have been all sweetness and light, (thus far!!) and I keep getting asked back, nay BEGGED to come back.
The posting above where the locum sat and read the paper, is typical of what I hear on my travels, it was the same when I was engaging locums, I got reports from my staff that the locum was attached permantly to their mobile phone/laptop/ paper, and didn't strike a hand's turn to the work in the pharmacy, this gets the staff's backs up straight away - make one mistake, just one tiny one, pick the wrong medication off the shelf, have to re-do a label, and you are the worst pharmacist in christendom, and boy, you can bet it will be relayed to the regular pharmacist on their return.
Don't forget two things - that the staff have been there a lot longer (in most cases) than you, and know the systems - OK the systems may not be perfect, but look at them, and make tactfull suggestions of how they could be improved-don't go in with the attitude of "I'm just qualified - I know best you'll do it MY way" , and secondly, the assistants are earning a lot less than you are, and a locum who doesn't pull their weight is likely to get short shrift in the sympathy stakes when things go wrong.
What I would say to new locums is that it's dead easy - like falling off a log, to be a valued locum, and get bookings where you want - a great reputation takes 20 minutes to establish, but a lifetime to get back. The pharmacy grapevine is bigger and faster than you think.
Regards
funkyfarmacist

[Fleegle]

A very astute post there BobD, and I agree with most of it.

However,
Your post assumes that every locum walks into the pharmacy, and is greeted by a warm welcome, and a plethora of fully qualified staff, eager to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Unfortunately, very often I have not found this to be the case. I have spent 13 hours in a busy shop with one staff member who had more interest in her mobile phone than acknowledging the customer in front of her. 'Qualified' staff with no idea of the location of the safe key, the CD register, the computer access codes, and even the shop alarm code.

The 2 hour lunch break brigade, and the 'I'm off out for a fag' brigade spring to mind as well..not to mention both dispensers calling in sick on the same phonecall...etc. etc. etc...

In cases like these, I would certainly rather fall off a log. With all due respect, you can't have been a locum for very long, or you have been extremely lucky thus far!

Fleeg.

[Tony Schofield]

Over the last 30 years I have become well acquainted with the locums who arrive with course work for the Russian course they are doing instructing people not to distub them, those that have brought a deck chair and had the staff bring every completed item out for checking while they read the paper in the back yard as well as those who are superglued to the telephone........one was negotiating the purchase of a business and others have bought houses and cars using my 'phone.

I have had to sack one and throw his belongings into the street for him to collect for being awful to the staff, patients and a local GP (the PDA sued me for his money and cancelled bookings but backed down when they became aware of the facts) and I have had to put one in a taxi as he got so drunk during his lunch break that he fell on the floor and no-one could lift him up. Another "lady" who came in an hour late, drunk and threatened to sue us for complaining.

I have also employed locums who subsequently stole drugs and/or money and one beauty who sat in the toilet all day with a collection of girlie magazines.

This is not a new phenomenon. The first locum I ever encountered (in 1977) told everyone that their medication interacted with alcohol and justified it on the grounds "do they want to get better on not?"

So crap locums are not a new phenomenon.

However, whilst I agree that a positive attitude is required to make a "go" of locumming I have this year had to engage a lot of locums due to a couple of managerial changes. Those engaged, via an agency were nearly all young, two were recently qualified and to a (wo)man they were hard working, helpful and very competent.

Locums are people. They mirror the world we live in. Some are nice, some are helpful and some are lazy bastards whose honesty is sometimes suspect. Same as doctors, plumbers, electricians, solicitors, pharmacy staff, bin men, glamour models............

What I would say however is that if pharmacy is in the hands of the young people who worked for me towards the end of last year and from February to April the profession has a secure future.