Blog

All pharmacists have at least one thing in common: we passed a few multiple-choice exams. Remember when your classmate said he would know the answer when he saw it listed in the options? He was right. And this was the first clue that pharmacists have teleprompter brains.

If pharmacists are to be the Hope of Healthcare, we must be alert to the conformities all around us and the results they deliver. Additionally, we must have the courage to explore new models, systems and services which deliver better results.

Once we invest (or waste) time doing (or not doing) something, we do not get it back. Staffing your pharmacy is much the same, since time spent recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, training and support a new employee will never be given back. Thus, bringing on the wrong person comes with significant costs.

When I began my career as an intern, the stories were still common about preparing prescription labels on typewriters. Yes, you read that right. That was the prevailing technology at one time. When printers came along, all sorts of things changed. And for the better. However, if you were a pharmacy that did not improve your technical skill and adopt the printer over the typewriter, you would quickly find yourself at a disadvantage in the care you could provide patients.

This sounds harsh, but it often goes unrecognized so here it is straight: no matter what your pharmacy role is, you are replaceable. While you may not imagine that someone else is capable of taking over your job, there is. If you think your exit from your pharmacy will result in its closing, you are wrong.

One thing I miss a lot since I’ve taken a new non-patient-facing position is my interactions with patients, specifically the home visits I used to do.

Bad news is confrontational. We hesitate to disrupt homeostasis because we are afraid of the negative emotions it will cause others and ourselves. The imagined response in anticipation of our inflammatory reaction makes others procrastinate. What if there were a way to force bad news from coming out before it is too late?

Life insurance is often used as a solution to problems and needs identified in the estate planning process. Here we three estate planning strategies pharmacy business owners should consider that include life insurance: estate preservation; estate equalization; and business succession planning.