Running an independent pharmacy can be pretty overwhelming these days, especially with rising costs and your patients’ expectations. While you strive to offer exceptional service, it can sometimes seem impossible while you’re trying to stay financially stable. However, there is a way.
You can improve your pharmacy’s efficiency. These core values aren’t high maintenance. In fact, they don’t really require immediate or big changes.
Here are three small adjustments you can make in your pharmacy practice that will help you maximize efficiency.
Automate Your Day
It’s a wonderful feeling when you get to interact with and help your patients. After all, this is what will set your pharmacy apart from others. But you don’t often have time to chit chat. However, if you find ways to automate your day along with your daily tasks, you can allocate more time to your dedication to patient relationships.
With platforms designed to automate the daily tasks of messaging patients for transactional purposes (i.e. refill reminders, order status, signature collection, etc.), you can spend more time interacting with your patients instead of calling and leaving voicemails.
Invest in Healthier Work Environments
Unergonomic workspaces can lead to health issues, missed worked days, and a decrease in productivity, not to mention lower employee satisfaction.
Research by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, a department of the Washington state government, shows that ergonomic workspaces have great benefits.
- Increase productivity by 25%
- Reduce errors by 67% on average
- Lessen lost workdays by 75%
- Lower worker’s compensation costs by 68%
- Reduce employee absenteeism by 58%
Encourage Opportunities to Learn and Grow
Today’s pharmacy has two choices. You can sink or you can swim. That’s why it’s so important to consistently make improvements in your pharmacy and stay educated. These are a must if you want to stay on top of trends, learn new ways to advance your practice, and keep your staff happy and productive. Here’s how:
- Invest in staff members’ continued learning and interests. Help them feel and know that they have a true career path with your pharmacy. Believe it or not, this can reduce turnover rates and the costs of staff leaving. Having a sense of purpose and fulfillment in their career will help them see improved productivity.
- Stay educated. It’s not only important for your staff, but you as well. As a pharmacy owner, it’s extremely important that you keep up with education. Invest in your knowledge of the newest trends and technology. This will keep you competitive.
In the fast-paced world we live in, you don’t want your pharmacy to lag behind. Stay on top of continuous education and technology, and watch how your productivity will expand.
A Member-Owned Company Serving Independent Pharmacies
PBA Health is dedicated to helping independent pharmacies reach their full potential on the buy-side of their business. Founded and run by pharmacists, PBA Health serves independent pharmacies with group purchasing services, wholesaler contract negotiations, proprietary purchasing tools, and more.
An HDA member, PBA Health operates its own NABP-accredited warehouse with more than 6,000 SKUs, including brands, generics, narcotics CII-CV, cold-storage products, and over-the-counter (OTC) products — offering the lowest prices in the secondary market.
