3 Quick Reminders For A More Secure Pharmacy

Many people start out Monday morning with a to-do list for the week.  Sometimes losing sleep the night before, worrying about what we didn’t get done before the weekend or what new project will be on the horizon.

And of course, as the week progresses, the to-do list doesn’t really seem to get any shorter. For every one thing we check off, we add two or three more. It can be hard not to feel overwhelmed and almost impossible to not let something slip through the cracks. 

While I am going to add a few things to your to do list for the week, taking a few minutes to check off these items is guaranteed to take a big weight off of your shoulders because you’ll have a lot less to worry about once you’re done. 

1.  Make sure you have anti-virus software installed and up-to-date. Protect your pharmacy computers from viruses and malware. To make things even easier, if you don’t have anti-virus software (or maybe even if you do), check with your POS provider for a completely managed antivirus subscription. 

2.  Check to ensure that your computer operating systems are up to date. Windows XP was a very popular operating system. It was the standard for many years. But in 2014, Microsoft officially sunsetted the XP platform. This means that computers running Windows XP aren’t getting vital security updates and patches, leaving them vulnerable. So if you have a system still running Windows XP in your pharmacy, call your pharmacy POS provider of pharmacy system vendor and get it taken care of. And if you’re running Windows 7 or Windows 10, just make sure you’re take a few minutes to ensure all of the Windows updates are applied.

3.  Always have a backup plan. We talk about the importance of performing regular system backups quite a bit. We simply can’t stress it enough. If you aren’t performing a nightly backup, talk to your pharmacy technology vendors to find out the best way to handle this task. If you already have a plan in place, just take a quick moment to ensure that everything is working correctly. If you ever need to restore pharmacy data, you’ll be really glad you took the time.

While these items may not seem pressing right now, it’s much easier to check them off the list before you have a problem. Otherwise, you’ll be cleaning up a much bigger mess later.