How can shop staff help?

[the.cure]

Hey, I'm new here.. I'm a seventeen year old student.

I work in a (well known ) pharmacy part-time. I've done the healthcare assistant course and I'm starting a dispensary assistant course soon. I love my job so much I'm going to take pharmacy at uni next year.

My question; The pharmacy is very busy and VERY short staffed. Oe of the pharmacists I work with looks so stressed out at the minute. She is a great pharmacist but she has no help (no dispenser)..

All I do is give her the unfilled scripts and hand out them to customers... and file prescriptions. What else can I do to help? I know it isn't my place to interfere, I am just shop assistant, but am really worried about her. I wish I was qualified to help more and make her job easier (and mine less stressed from customers getting angry)

Any tips for shop staff to make your job easier?

[Fleegle]

What a most unexpected (and thoroughly welcome) post..

It would appear the pharmacist is probably under so much pressure to fill (and self-check) all the presented prescriptions herself, that she hasn't much time for anything other than that.

Purely as a start, ask if she would be happy with you helping with counting tablets from bulk, ready to dispense, for her to label. (always leave bulk containers on bench for checking). Always work from the original script, and not from the labels. The pharmacist will let you know exactly how she would like you to do this.

If she is happy with that, see how it goes from there..

Best of luck for the future..I'm sure you will go far!

Fleegle.

[SolomonQ]

well known multiple, short-staffed, pharmacist streesed out, let me guess the multiples name begins with an L. from what iv seen, this problem only seems to be with this mutiple, guess like I said in another post they actually end up making more money because of this short-staffing.

But in this case, the pharmacist is herself to blame, if she carries on worin in those conditions, she not only makes it bad for herself, but the multiple will expect other pharmacist to work in the same way because she was able to "cope" with it.

I dont know why, in situations where the pharmacy is so busy that the realistic aiting time would be like 2 hours, counter staff still take in the script and give a waiting time of like 15-20 minutes, that really pisses me off, i have to go out to the patient myself andexplain the situation, taking up more of my time, but i dont think it's right for a pharmacy to accept a Rx if it cant be supplied within a reasonable time, which is not 2 hours.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

but i dont think it's right for a pharmacy to accept a Rx if it cant be supplied within a reasonable time, which is not 2 hours.

I'd suggest 48 hours for a repeat was reasonable, and maybe 30 minutes for an acute.

But I'm sure you'll all disagree

We market community pharmacy on speed of supply and then wonder why patients become impatient.

Jeff

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by the.cure

Hey, I'm new here.. I'm a seventeen year old student.

I work in a (well known ) pharmacy part-time. I've done the healthcare assistant course and I'm starting a dispensary assistant course soon. I love my job so much I'm going to take pharmacy at uni next year.

My question; The pharmacy is very busy and VERY short staffed. Oe of the pharmacists I work with looks so stressed out at the minute. She is a great pharmacist but she has no help (no dispenser)..

All I do is give her the unfilled scripts and hand out them to customers... and file prescriptions. What else can I do to help? I know it isn't my place to interfere, I am just shop assistant, but am really worried about her. I wish I was qualified to help more and make her job easier (and mine less stressed from customers getting angry)

Any tips for shop staff to make your job easier?

Look at what you written - that great stressed out pharmacists could be you in 10 years time - are you sure that's what you want?

Jeff

[dizzyb23]

It must be L that the.cure is working for. Short staffed being the biggest clue. Why is it that they think it's ok to run a busy pharmacy with a pharmacist and no dispenser/tech etc??
Just ask your pharmacist what you can do to help. What a great attitude you have the.cure..............We can't get our shop assistant to do anything even serve.....................

[Sir_Dispensalot]

Originally Posted by the.cure

Hey, I'm new here.. I'm a seventeen year old student.

I work in a (well known ) pharmacy part-time. I've done the healthcare assistant course and I'm starting a dispensary assistant course soon. I love my job so much I'm going to take pharmacy at uni next year.

My question; The pharmacy is very busy and VERY short staffed. Oe of the pharmacists I work with looks so stressed out at the minute. She is a great pharmacist but she has no help (no dispenser)..

All I do is give her the unfilled scripts and hand out them to customers... and file prescriptions. What else can I do to help? I know it isn't my place to interfere, I am just shop assistant, but am really worried about her. I wish I was qualified to help more and make her job easier (and mine less stressed from customers getting angry)

Any tips for shop staff to make your job easier?

how close are you to starting your dispensing assistant course? will it be within 3 months? If thats the case and you're simply waiting for the next intake then i think you may be legally allowed to help out in the dispensary (or does that 3 month rule only apply to counter assistant courses? I'm not 100% on that one - anyone know?).

But as solly quite rightly pointed out the pharmacist should be making louder noises about the need for new staff to be taken on - if it's a busy branch and there's no dispensers then sooner or later something bad will happen - most pharmacists are good at multi-tasking but even the best of us can get distracted at a critical moment...

[SolomonQ]

Originally Posted by Jeff

I'd suggest 48 hours for a repeat was reasonable, and maybe 30 minutes for an acute.

But I'm sure you'll all disagree

We market community pharmacy on speed of supply and then wonder why patients become impatient.

Jeff

first question would be organising the procedure for the 48 hours given, alot of patients wouldnt be happy waiting two days for thei meds, "after all all they have to do is pick it off the shelf and put it in abag, oops i forgot they also put a label on it", unhappy customers would make alot of the bosses at the various multiples very very very unhappy, hwich isnt good for thepharmacist manager. Chances are something will come up meaning even when the patient comes back after two days their Rx wont be on the shelf.

3o mins waiting time, you must be joking???? i've locumed in a very busy pharmacy where I was on my own in the dispensary and despite me asking the counter staff to give waiting times of say 30 minutes, they refused saying they were only allowed to give 20 minutes max. as an exception, you go to any multiple their emphasis is on reducing waiting times, ofcourse any mistakes made would be on your head, you lose your accreditation, they're jus get another locum or pharmacist.

when ever a Rx is delayed, i've always heard counter staff say 2 minutes or 5 minutes more, when the patient is say 4th in the Queue, and they know for sure its going to be more like 30 minutes.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

first question would be organising the procedure for the 48 hours given, alot of patients wouldnt be happy waiting two days for thei meds, "after all all they have to do is pick it off the shelf and put it in abag,

Part of the repeat prescription collection service - surgery wants 48 hours notice - we only take repeat requests in once a day (not 200 times) so add in a day there. Also collect scripts once a day so 200 arrive all at once so be nice and give us a day to get them all done and order in any stock we don't have on the shelves. Most patients understand that and are happy with it.

They can always save 2 days by taking their own repeat request to the surgery, collecting it from the surgery themselves 48 hours later and then bringing it to the pharmacy and being prepared to sit and wait and risk the item not being in stock - but that will take up more of their time.

[/quote}Chances are something will come up meaning even when the patient comes back after two days their Rx wont be on the shelf.[/quote]
Part of the repeat collection service is having a contact number so that you can inform patients of likely delays - they are happier if you tell them before they come in and also tell them what action you are taking.

3o mins waiting time, you must be joking???? i've locumed in a very busy pharmacy where I was on my own in the dispensary and despite me asking the counter staff to give waiting times of say 30 minutes, they refused saying they were only allowed to give 20 minutes max. as an exception,

So don't go back. 30 minutes is I think the time scale at which you are supposed to be seen compared to your appointment time at a hospital - so seemed a reasonable starting figure. With the repeats organised properly waiting time shouldn't usually be anything like that - but with 30 minutes as the target point there's time for a sensible MUR.

you go to any multiple their emphasis is on reducing waiting times,

Given an organised repeat collection service - the "waiting time" for the repeat patient in the pharmacy tends to zero.

when ever a Rx is delayed, i've always heard counter staff say 2 minutes or 5 minutes more, when the patient is say 4th in the Queue, and they know for sure its going to be more like 30 minutes.

Tell someone it's going to be 2 minutes and they are disappointed when it takes 5 minutes. Tell them it will take 30 and they can choose to do something else.

Work in an environment in which the focus is the prescription - and that's what the patients will be interested in.
Focus instead on the patients and they'll appreciate the time you take with them and with others.

Jeff

[kaza65]

Never a truerer work spoken, i'm a dispenser (probably in the L pharmacies). Don't stop from the minute i get in. No manager again, working with locums which are on whole great, but i just feel that there's no support from management.

I love my job, but the pressure at the mo is just getting to me. it would be nice to have some stability in the place. All the staff keep leaving and them that haven't are looking for other jobs, i've never known morale so low