Monday, February 8, 2010
One Week Down
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
What a mess
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tomorrow will be here soon
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thanks KASPER
While filling his prescription I switched computer screens and pulled up my KASPER account and did a quick search. Almost instantly I was provided with a report that he had just filled the medication at Rite Aid and wasn't due for another week. I looked up at him and informed him that it was not necessary for him to wait now because it was apparent that he should not be out of his medication. I told him that I knew he had received this same medication from Rite Aid and that I would be happy to call Rite Aid to confirm. Immediately he changed his story and backed away from my counter.
The longer I work in community pharmacy the sharper my instincts become. Running KASPER reports on everyone would be a big waste, but combined with a pharmacist's ability to sense suspicious activity it can be a great tool to stop drug diversion.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Podcast Possibility
So I have been brainstorming a few ideas over the past few weeks. I would really like to put together a few podcasts or YouTube videos that would go with the theme of my blog. I started this blog in my 3rd year of pharmacy school to discuss pharmacy related issues and shed a positive light on the profession I love. In a way, I was inspired by writers that bashed pharmacy and gave our profession a bad name. At times, writing on this site has been quite therapeutic for me as I have faced interesting situations as a student and as a pharmacist. It has served as a soap box and an open journal to share my thoughts and experiences.
Over the past two years I have built a small following of friends, family, and colleagues that check out my blog from time to time and give me wonderful feedback that has added value to www.pharmacistplace.com. By feeding the blog posts through my Facebook page I have been able to reach more friends. Their comments have been insightful, clever, and sometimes just funny.
Now I feel like it is time to expand and possibly reach out to a much broader audience. I would like to include some audio and video in my blog. I’m trying to iron out a few ideas and I’d love to know what you think.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Great store, great people, so what is the problem?
I spent two days this week revisiting one of my favorite stores in Zone 8. I helped train this store back in September and have worked there a few times since. The store is mid to high volume and has a pretty large staff. I was asked to return this week to find out what has gone wrong at the store and why they seem to be struggling so much.
Within twenty minutes of arriving I was pulled aside by the general manager of the entire grocery store to discuss several issues and listen to his concerns. By the end of the first day I had most of the pharmacists and technicians express their thoughts as well on why they were doing so poorly. It was apparent that everyone knew the pharmacy had problems, they knew what most of the problems were, but throughout both days I didn’t see a great effort from the staff to solve those problems.
I first made some minor adjustments to workflow and, with the help of the Zone Coordinator, added a new workstation. These were merely quick fixes that wouldn’t really get to the root of the problem. The major issue this store faced was a lack of leadership. This is a problem that cannot be fixed in a day without completely replacing the pharmacy manager.
I developed a list of problems and action items to solve those problems and met with the store manager to discuss the issues. I know the store will require more attention over the next few weeks, but my job there was done. I really hope they are able to turn things around because I love the people at that store. They have a well trained staff and technicians that take pride in their work.

