Pharmacies are unique businesses because they combine the stresses and demands of retail with the need for discretion and accuracy that come with medical operations. This puts a great deal of pressure on the pharmacy’s staff to juggle several responsibilities. All down the line from pharmacists to pharmacist’s assistants to cashiers, everyone must be precise and cool under pressure. Fortunately, their lives can be made much better with a good retail pharmacy software system. Here are some of the efficiencies it can provide.
Inventory
Let’s begin in the backroom. Pharmacies stock a wide range of medications, some of which need to be prepared in the store shortly before giving them to patients. For example, liquid suspensions are made on demand. It’s imperative that pharmacists and their assistants know what they have on hand, and how much is available.
Many pharmacies also carry ready to go, over the counter medications, and convenience items like candy bars or greeting cards. A retail pharmacy software system makes it easy to track these items electronically.
Signature Capture
To release certain prescribed medications, or controlled substances, pharmacy employees are often required to collect multiple signatures. Typically, these signatures need to be saved and stored securely. Doing this with paper requires a lot of space, and leaves lots of room for error; receipts can get dropped, misplaced, or destroyed easily, even with the best intentions and safeguards.
A growing number of pharmacies have started to deliver prescriptions to homes and businesses. The same issues can arise using paper here, but they’re compounded by being off-site and having to transport the receipts. A retail pharmacy system can provide a much better solution by electronically capturing and storing a signature which can be saved in a digital cloud and transmitted as needed wirelessly, taking a lot of pressure off pharmacy employees.
Point of Sale
It doesn’t matter how good your other systems may be-if your point of sale area isn’t efficient, you’ve got a problem. Customers need to be handled quickly, accurately and discreetly. Antiquated cash register systems can fail and cause frustration for employees. On the other hand, an easy to use, cutting-edge point of sale terminal that allows for updates and upgrades can make life easier for everyone from management to part-timers.
Technology can transform a pharmacy from a small, quaint operation to a state-of-the art model of efficiency. The cost of investing in reliable and current systems pays for itself by improving employee morale and productivity.