The Rule Book for Your Pharmacy Business

Have you ever played a game without fully understanding the rules? Frustrating right? You get the concept and the end goal but the first time or two you play there’s confusion, arguing with team mates and opponents alike, and just a general feeling of exasperation.

Whether we’re playing a board game or trying to understand the concept of Frisbee golf for the first time, there’s only one thing that gets you through those first awkward attempts. Understanding how the game is supposed to be played.

It’s at that moment, when everything clicks and our whole perspective changes, that we might wish there was a rule book for everything. Some sort of guidance on the plays we can make and when the best time to make them is. Because as we all know, that same feeling of frustration when we aren’t sure of what to do next, or where to find the answer can strike at any point in daily life for any number of reasons.

So what’s the lesson here? What can we take away from a board game rule book or a football team play book to make running a pharmacy business easier? Sure, there are countless rules, regulations, requirements, and stipulations for operating a pharmacy. But how about actually running your pharmacy business? Not so easy right? There are dozens of moving parts. Where do you go when you need to know what move to make next?

Putting together a game plan is actually easier than you might think. It all starts with understanding the resources that you have available and how they should be used. If you can answer these 3 questions, you’ll be well on your way.

What resources do I have available? Why start from scratch if someone’s already written a rule book for the technology you use in your pharmacy? People, product guides, E-books, videos and blogs are all resources that you can use to better understand the tools available to you. For instance, at RMS, anyone can learn from the blogs and E-books in our online library. And RMS customers have access to a customer center filled with E-learning and knowledge base articles and a full detailed point-of-sale product guide on every system.

How do I get support? No matter how much we like to be self sufficient, there will always be scenarios that require us to get help. So where does that help come from? Know what avenues of support your vendors offer (email, customer center, phone etc.) and what hours support is live so you know how to reach the resources you need. (In case you’re curious, RMS offers 24×7 support.)

Do I need to learn more? Understanding resources and how to get help is essential, but there’s also something to be said to being confident and independent in your daily activities. This is where ongoing product training can be a huge benefit. It not only helps you to better understand the product in key areas that matter most to your pharmacy, but gets you up to date on new features and workflow changes. Here’s a quick video on a few other reasons you might want to invest in training in your pharmacy.

At the end of the day, pharmacy technology exists (or should exist) to make running your business easier and more efficient. Allowing you to focus on patient care and all the other reasons you decided to get into this business in the first place. It takes a little work to understand all of the tools and solutions you have available, but once you get those best practices taken care of, you’ll never have to wonder what move to make next.