The Pharmacy Order of Operations

Someone reminded me recently of “The Order of Operations”. That mathematical rule we all learned at one point or another that tells us in what order to solve steps in an expression that has multiple different operations. I admit it’s been a minute since I thought extensively about the PEDMAS acronym and how it creates order in complex math problems.  But, as with most things that don’t directly relate to pharmacy but might be tangentially connected, it got me thinking about the order of operations in pharmacy, and whether there are strict rules like in math or if there’s sometimes room to do things differently.  

It goes without saying that pharmacies operate within strict rules and regulations. There are certain things that can’t be changed. At the same time, there’s no one-size-fits-all in pharmacy. There may be some key steps in your prescription sales process that could do with a little shaking up.  

While change can be a little intimidating, consider that your prescription fill and sales processes should play to the strengths of your team and make the best possible use of their skills. Your workflow processes should also be influenced by what will offer the best possible outcome for your patients.  

With that in mind, here are three workflow processes to review.  

Nutrient Depletion Recommendations 

If you’re recommending supplements based on prescription induced nutrient depletion, there are a couple of places in your workflow where you might encounter the process. The more traditional is when the prescription is being filled, and it’s largely manual. The recommendation is identified behind the scenes, printed out, and attached to the bag.  

You can switch up this manual process by moving it to the register and using point of sale-initiated recommendations at the time the transaction is processed. This is something you might want to consider if you want to save some time behind the scenes, make your processes less manual, and make the conversations about nutrient depletion the forefront of patient interactions.  

Will Call Management 

When a patient has multiple prescriptions, you might be scanning each individual prescription at the point of sale. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this process. It’s standard procedure.  

But you can change things up and batch all of your prescriptions together under one barcode before placing them in Will Call. Essentially, you’re moving the multiple prescriptions scans closer to the beginning of your workflow, instead of all the way at the end. The benefits here are a faster checkout process and a reduced risk of forgotten prescriptions. Streamlining without having to invest in an expensive bagging system.  

Patient Counselling  

If you have a high prescription volume and don’t counsel on every transaction, you might want to adjust where and how counselling happens in your workflow. Because not every patient requires counselling, some transactions are much simpler and quicker than others.  

Instead of counselling at the register, you scan the prescription, tender it as normal and then select an option to queue to counselling. Then you can send over the prescriptions to your counselling area or window, bring up the queue and patient record at that station and complete counselling away from the register. It’s a great shift to keep lines moving and complete counselling in a more private setting.  

Ready to change up your Order of Operations? It all starts with a point of sale solution capable of adapting to your needs.