ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR
- 12/22/2024
Why should pharmacists avoid cutting their own lawns?
Easy question: what do you make per hour? Another easy question: how many hours would you have to work to buy freedom for something nagging you, that you are not the expert in anyway? By outsourcing, can you create a job for someone else. If so, it’s time to bet on yourself and outsource. - 12/15/2024
Pharmacy is like jumping out of an airplane. You need a backup chute
It is much easier to fantasize about the various ways your pharmacy can be successful. We can picture a rising prescription volume, inventing new workflow to get medication reviews done efficiently, conducting a vaccine clinic or implementing robotics for blister packaging. However, the much harder mental exercise is imagining how your pharmacy can fail. It means predicting the unpredictable, without letting it control you. - 12/8/2024
How do you avoid hurt feelings in your pharmacy?
As part of the duties of being a pharmacist, our job involves helping people when they are not at their best. Empathetically recognizing that they carry burdens with their visits to see us is the first step to being the helper (as bystander) instead of a combatant fighting against them. They do not necessarily mean to fight us, but we are just sometimes in their way. It is our job to recognize that and manage it. - 12/1/2024
3 key reasons pharmacists are lonely at the top
We are unique. Pharmacists are their own kind, and we lack a band of unity where we can vent, share ideas and correct each other when going off-path. The result is a feeling of being somewhat isolated. Since we cannot exactly place our identities within the groups of people around us, we can feel different and often lack a suitable like-minded partner to support us as we navigate and process the day. - 11/24/2024
Yes, pharmacists use four letter words
While we may not always be on our game as pharmacy leaders, we need to understand that we are mentors whether we like it or not. Our actions, words and behaviours automatically serve as examples of what we expect from others. - 11/17/2024
Heavy shoulders: owner versus pharmacist duties
Over the past two decades as a pharmacy worker, I have held many jobs, from a 16-year-old cashier who cleaned the toilets to becoming a pharmacy owner, and I have experienced the growing responsibilities in our profession from all vantage points. - 11/10/2024
5 tips to deal with pharmacy sick calls
I strongly believe that when we make the decision to hire someone, that person becomes part of the family and needs our support and resources until exiting. The first priority of a leader is to take care of staff, then staff can take care of customers and customers can take care of business. - 11/4/2024
How your new pharmacy boss presses a special reset button
A new boss is an opportunity. People on are good behaviour and their minds are sharp. They are energized and observant. They try to make good impressions and become free to give opinions they would not have before. The new boss organically lights up the reset button, now available for the staff to press. - 10/27/2024
How to manage the babysitting part of our pharmacy job
Ever find yourself working harder than you need to in the process of buying something for your pharmacy? When choosing a vendor, I have learned that I prefer to do business with those I can communicate with, which is a nice way of saying that I do not have to babysit them. - 10/21/2024
Pharmacists, firefighters and architects: which one are you?
The good old pharmacy model saw the pharmacist as the firefighter and the architect, with burnout waiting around the corner. This one-person band put out fires and built buildings. However, since pharmacy is much more complex today, we find that the traditional jack-of-all-trades pharmacist divided into two different people.