You chose to become a pharmacist for many reasons. You did well in math and science. Perhaps a mother, father, aunt, or uncle was a pharmacist. You thought about medicine, but really enjoyed chemistry. Mostly though, you got into pharmacy to help patients. And you chose independent pharmacy to improve the health and well-being of your community and region.
But finding time to connect with your patients and community members has only gotten harder, right along with the growing list of challenges you face in turning a profit. Yet making one-on-one patient consultations a priority for yourself and your entire team will pay hefty dividends in many ways.
First, your patients will remember your extraordinary expertise, patience and kindness. This will make them think twice before choosing a chain or mail-order option for their medication needs. It will also get them in the habit of viewing you as an essential partner in their health care, along with their physicians, dentists, and other specialists.
Carving out a bit more consultation time will also result in you and your staff remembering your patients. Even if you can’t remember specific names—and let’s face it, few people are “good with names”—you will remember faces, visual cues, health specifics, and more. People are very forgiving of the inability to keep names in mind. But they will love that you remember who they are or other details of their lives.
Finally, spending time to personally help patients will also help you and everyone in your store. You had many other career options, yet you decided to focus on community pharmacy—certainly not to make money! You wanted to improve the health of your family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and neighbors.
Our next blog post will offer ideas for ways to find a bit more time in the day so you might be able to spare a bit of time to spend with your patients.
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.
