Little Things That Add Up Big Time In Your Pharmacy

We all have habits that we adhere to that save us time or help us to make the right decisions. Like setting out the next day’s clothes before bed so you have one less thing to worry about in the morning. Or meal prepping for the week so you aren’t tempted to eat out or rushing every morning to pack something. There are dozens of little things that we do that help us fit everything we need to do into the day. And when we don’t do even one of those little things, chaos is only too happy to make an appearance.  

While a little extra coffee and a couple of ibuprofen may help you recover from a hectic morning, not everything is quite so easy.  A slow-down in your pharmacy could have effects that continue to ripple throughout the day. But you can’t always be there to make sure things go smoothly. And you’re also human so even if you spend 60 hours a week in your pharmacy, something is probably going to get missed. 

This is where pharmacy technology steps in to save us. You don’t have to remember every little thing because your pharmacy point-of-sale system can do it for you.  

We’ve talked before about big processes where automation is the key to success. When it comes to reporting, inventory management, A/R and customer loyalty, trying to do it without Pharmacy POS automation is far from easy or efficient.  But what about the little things? Even taking extra time at the till can have a major impact on customer satisfaction and pharmacy staff efficiency.  Here are just a few examples of how small changes in process at the point-of-sale can make a big difference.  

One and Done Signatures –  A given transaction may require multiple signatures.  Combining them saves time and frustration. Set your POS application to require one signature for all prescriptions and credit card payment. HIPAA and Safety Caps will still have to be separate but you might be surprised at how much faster transactions go when your customers don’t have to sign multiple times for multiple prescriptions. 

Biometric login – Strong passwords are necessary for operating a secure and compliant pharmacy. But having to constantly type in a password takes up valuable time, even if you never make a mistake when you enter it in. Using biometric login makes POS application access quick and easy. Type in a 2-digit code and press your finger to the reader and you’re in.   

Additional Prescriptions for Pickup-  If used properly, this feature is a valuable time saver for both you and your customer. On the surface it means one less trip to the pharmacy for your customer when they realize they’ve got something else to pick up. It also means less time spent on back to stock processes for your staff and less time spent on will-call reconciliation.  

Drivers License Scanning – If you have to collect ID information for any sort of controlled substance sale, manually entering that information can be a huge hassle. It’s a lot of information to type in and an error can cause an even greater slowdown. Using a 2D barcode scanner means that drivers license information can be automatically parsed into the correct fields in a fraction of the time manual entry takes up. 

Viewed separately, the little things may seem inconsequential. But when you add up all the time that even a small broken process takes up, you’re looking at a chunk of time that’s too big to ignore.