Pharmacy U news

When pharmacy staff get angry words from patients, what the pharmacy manager says next means something. Something potentially very important to how the interaction carries on.

Many people, including myself, believed at one point that patients were very much like a cup. The education provided would be like the liquid filling up the cup. Once the cup got filled to a certain level, like a switch, the patient would begin to do everything correctly.

High performance teams need a strong leader, but it can be difficult to be a leader. Nobody ever teaches us as pharmacists what being a real leader is all about. True leadership is the ability to communicate with and effectively reach each person on your team.

If you are planning to exit your pharmacy business, you need a good team of advisors on your side. It should include an accountant, a corporate lawyer, a tax expert and a financial advisor, but the single most important member is the team lead – a “quarterback” who will ensure the players are working together and who will represent your interests from start to finish.

Pharmacists face leadership challenges from every angle. Staff, customers, prescribers, vendors, and you cannot overlook family. Pharmacists are challenged to lead all these groups (and others) and they all have different requirements.

All babies are beautiful – to their parents. It can be the same with a business. After spending years, even decades, building their pharmacy, surviving through the hard times and celebrating the good, many owners have a difficult time seeing their “baby” for what it truly is.

As practising pharmacists, we talk with patients suffering from IBS many days. Or, more accurately, we try to talk with these patients, with varying success. Patients really do not want to talk about it, they have been down this road too many times, they have tried so many different things and here they are again.

You never know what benefits are available by tapping into other people’s networks. Effective business networking means developing professional business relationships that could or might lead to opportunities for both parties involved with the intention of helping others benefit.