Trying to concentrate and distractions

[rafhelp]

I sometimes find my tutor intimidating and confusing. I will be labelling or doing some other work. And my tutor almost charges into me and rushes me, saying faster, faster (in asian language) I find this disorientating as i then have to either let him do the labelling or wait figure out what i was doing then carry on. He has done this in the past and has resulted in me making a mistake for which you then get 'told off', so it is something that bothers me and need to deal with. I know when working in practice you would have to deal with many different people and pressures and awkward staff and as a pharmacist you should be able to handle them, but if i was working in a chemist and the staff kept having a go at me and telling me to work faster, as long as they were not being reasonable I would either report them to senior staff or have a word with them myself and explain that i was working as fast as i can and that its not about speed but efficiency and if things went wrong i would be held to account so i would appreciate it if they would stop it. I would do the same if staff became aggresive or abusive with.

The other thing is I have to work with about 5 different pharmacists each has there own style of working. Now i get left with sorting out methadone and entering them, all 60+ of them, now this is just part of the job and i have speeded up time taken to complete this work. But what confuses me is each pharmacist handles CD scripts differently. For example one gives the methadone out, enters it then puts a tick to say its been entered, another puts the script on a clip after its been entered and another just puts them anywhere and expects you to sort it out and get it all done perfectly and speedily, sometimes he enters them aswell and initials so I know they have been entered. Now what excatly do i do? just do it the way the pharmacist on duty does it? I think the SOP should be improved so that each section (observed, non observed) has three seperated sections. One section has the scripts for methadone not been collected, then when someone collects, the script is moved to the second section, then after its been entered it should be moved to the third section, that way there is no confusion. This could be done using three 'clips' or dividers/plastic trays etc..

[Pharmanaut]

A system I use for CD is...
As soon as I arrive we start to make up the doses.
The TTO dose is put in a bag, the supervised dose is then attached to the TTO dose with an elastic band.
The script is put behind the elastic band folded so the name and address is visible.
After collection the script is placed into the appropriate register (separate s/f non-s/f books).
They are then entered when somone finds time in the day.
Once entered/script section filled in they put on to the clip for the next day to start this process again.
Haven't forgotten to enter one yet...

Things are getting busier and busier in community though...
When yours truly started practicing 3 or 4 items was a rare and considered a large script.
Now everyone has 3 or 4 items and a large script with 7 plus items is not rare.

I do wish people would not interrupt while I'm checking MDS though.

[hibernia]

I sometimes find my tutor intimidating and confusing...

This is down to your tutor, not to you. He probably isn't even aware he is doing this or that it is a problem for you.
Once I had a pre-reg student I thought was getting on fine, even if he was if a bit slow. Pharmacy is a tough life and, like all my students, I was trying to prepare him for that. What I didn't realise was that he was more sensitive than the others who laughed off my bad humours. One day he 'cracked' and told me I was always picking on him, never helping him and generally making his life a misery. I was shocked but he was right. What he hadn't noticed was that I treat all the staff the same way but the others don't take it personally, it's part of my personality and that the person I am toughest on is myself.

Talk to the other staff. Ask them what is the best way to deal with his obvious impatience. I suggest you learn how to say "I'm going as fast as I (appropriate expletive) can, when I'm as old as you I'll be as fast as you" in his language then stand back and let him get on with it. He'll either laugh or sack you.

[SolomonQ]

", then after its been entered it should be moved to the third section, that way there is no confusion. This could be done using three 'clips' or dividers/plastic trays etc.."

exactly the system i "invented" to cope with a pharmacy doing alot of blue scripts, what complicated it was that the next days Rxs had to be prepared (by the pharmacist) for the next day. Also for some reason the pharmacy manager thought it a good idea to use a different clip for each different combination of collection days e.g. one clip for Mon, Wed, Fri collections and another one if a client was collecting on a Mon,Wed, Sat, complete waste of time e.g. patients collecting on Wednesday would be found on 3 or four diff clips, but you don't know which one.

About the "intimidation", well ask yourself if you are fast enough. Spending time looking at the patient's clinical history while labelling doesn't really help the waiting times.

[pharmacia]

Looking at a patient's clinical history while labelling is very important as a pre-reg. It's when you apply all the stuff you learnt in university to a real patient. This is your job as a future medicines expert.

[sol_adore]

Yea I have the same problem at work.

How to deal with it.. hmm.. perhaps putting it in writing for your upcoming appraisal? Try to express your frustration constructively and discuss it with your tutor, hopefully he's a reasonable bloke (assuming its a he) and will change his approach.

Accurate and comprehensive screening and dispensing of prescriptions is the most important skill to develop, being quick will develop with practice and simply cannot be allowed to jeopardise patient care.

I know a very slow pharmacist. The patients can get a little agitated but they deal with it.

[enzotabletcounter]

About the "intimidation", well ask yourself if you are fast enough. Spending time looking at the patient's clinical history while labelling doesn't really help the waiting times.

Even if rafhelp was really slow, its still not a good way to motivate your staff. If the pharmacist wants rafhelp to go faster, then they could ask nicely. Being rude or abrasive will only serve to produce resentment and isn't a very good way of getting people to cooperate.

[hibernia]

Being rude or abrasive will only serve to produce resentment and isn't a very good way of getting people to cooperate.

Very true but that doesn't stop it being a widely used appraoach.

[enzotabletcounter]

I've had proper heated discussions with pharmacy managers before because I say "a happy workforce is a productive workforce" and they say "a downtrodden workforce is a productive workforce". They would always refuse to see my point.

[hibernia]

I've had proper heated discussions with pharmacy managers before because I say "a happy workforce is a productive workforce" and they say "a downtrodden workforce is a productive workforce". They would always refuse to see my point.

I've worked both and I have to say productivity is about the same.
I've had various bosses of different types and got on with most of them but my biggest bugbear is the ones who change with the wind. If they are miserable bullying twits ALL the time you can cope, mostly by the staff ganging up against them, but if they are really nice some days it is a lot harder. Everybody is on eggshells all the time waiting for the next mood change.

Now that I'm the boss I of course go for the happy workforce, except when I'm in a bad mood because they don't laugh at my jokes.