Pharmacy technicians are the professionals who play an integral part in helping patients take their medicines. Independent pharmacies are pharmacist-owned, privately held businesses in various practice settings where pharmacy managers are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day business operations, including dispensing medication and advising patients on how to take them.
Pharmacy technicians also perform a wide range of services, such as assisting with administrative work, taking care of the day-to-day pharmacy operations, maintaining the pharmacy’s clean and neat appearance, labeling the medications, arranging the medicines in a well-organized form, handling customers’ queries, and maintaining patient medications reports.
Smooth operations for healthcare can be challenging but not vague. They can be implemented by an understanding of proper values and culture in the workplace. A smooth operation enables the technicians and employees to be relaxed, confident, and pleasant while working in the pharmacy.
10 Tips for Pharmacy Operations as a Pharmacy Technician
1. Plan for Pharmacy Operations
Planning your day helps maximum productivity, enabling smooth operations in your day. A day without planning is planning to fail, and it is important to know your role in what you’re going to work on to improve productivity. Find the tools that work for you and make planning a habit by building a to-do list and reflecting on daily feedback you give to yourself.
Completing tasks in a daily routine can ease frustration. Following a strategy in the workplace by managing things in an effective and efficient manner is necessary for a pharmacy technician to have smooth pharmacy operations.
2. Prioritize Tasks
Prioritize tasks in a manner that is important to work on, do not waste time on unnecessary work, and focus on the controllable and manageable things in your day to increase productivity and improve pharmacy operations. Collect a list of tasks to be done in a day and try to prioritize one task at a time.
A lack of prioritizing tasks can result in wasting time, energy, and attention on things that are unimportant, which can drain you and lead to doing things that are not urgent as other tasks.
3. Maintain a Daybook
It is important to maintain a diary of events to know what is happening on a typical day for pharmacy technicians, and to implement better strategies for pharmacy efficiency.
Pharmacy technicians serve an essential role in ensuring that medications are stored properly, and maintaining a daybook simplifies this process of tracking the storage of medicines.
4. No Procrastination
Procrastination is the act of delaying so your work is not completed on time. To tackle this problem, Forgive yourself for procrastinating in the past, commit to the task, promise yourself a reward, ask someone to check on you, or minimize distractions.
Avoiding procrastination can help improve productivity and get your work done by not delaying, which can later increase the chances of burnout. Commitment to the task is important for not delaying or postponing your work.
5. Maintain Cleanliness
Cleanliness helps the workplace maintain a neat decorum, and increases the morale of the pharmacy employees and the patients.
Hygiene is important in any work environment, and maintaining standard hygiene helps improve efficiency and patient care by ensuring patient safety and maintaining cleanliness on a regular basis.
6. Eradicate Mistakes
It is important to avoid errors. There is no room for mistakes in the workplace as usual drugs may turn hazardous, and can have a serve impact on the patients.
Earning a Technician Product Verification Certificate (TPV) Program offers an opportunity for pharmacy technicians to demonstrate and be recognized for their competency in completing final verification duties, checking other technicians or automated systems for accuracy in dispensing medications, managing detail-oriented work, and administrative tasks.
7. Communicate
Communication is the exchange of information, thoughts, and feelings among people using speech or other means. Ensure to regularly communicate with the patients on their progress, as well as with colleagues to have effective pharmacy operations, as teamwork helps to improve efficiency.
Effective communication helps in work processes, in which employees strive towards the organization’s growth, which results in completing the work on time. Communication helps with clarity in workflow and brainstorming ideas by innovating new ways to work in the pharmacy.
8. Remain Patient-Centered Service
Always have an objective to meet the expectations of the patient. Be sure to administer medication in a way that is easy for them. Patients are the priority, and we serve them with the best service possible. Avoid distractions at work and always focus on the objectives.
Identify concerns and needs, initiate discussions or implement strategies that help you to understand your patient’s perspectives on their health and quality of life.
9. Identify Weakness
Identify your weak areas and start working on them, it is important to eradicate mistakes in work, and these practices help in effective and efficient operations.
Focus on being self-aware and honest, and dedicate yourself to improvement. Always review your work processes to self-analyze and improve on the things that you think you are struggling with.
10. Avoid Burnouts
Burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling stressed. It happens to a person due to physical or emotional stress.
Burnout happens due to a lack of adequate social support, taking one or more tasks that one cannot handle at work.
Avoid burnout by taking breaks, finishing your work on time, enabling effectiveness in the workplace as a pharmacy technician, and reporting your work to the necessary authority. Also, avoid multitasking as it increases the causes of burnout by working on things that are not controllable.
Wrapping Up
Pharmacy technicians are responsible for the overall safety of pharmacy operations and are held accountable for their work. Pharmacy technicians receive and follow the instructions on the prescriptions. They need to follow certain procedures to enable a smooth operation. These tips can help you to plan your day, organize your workplace, and improve your personality to work effectively in the pharmacy.
If you are interested in taking the PTCB exam or know someone who is passionate about becoming a pharmacy technician, make sure to try our free practice test to help you prepare for the exam. You can also refer to our PTCB exam guide to learn more about the PTCB exam.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are pharmacy technicians full-time or part-time?
Positions are usually full-time, and since many pharmacies stay open all hours, schedules may include weekends and evenings.
What are lean principles in pharmacy operations?
Pharmacy operations demand the staff to work quickly and accurately to meet the needs of customers. By using lean principles in pharmacy operations, staff can more readily meet customer needs more efficiently and logically, reducing waste.
Why is pharmacy operation workflow important in pharmacy?
Workflow in pharmacy allows a pharmacy technician to provide their service to patients, which includes taking care of the pharmacy, as well as assisting and providing necessary medications to the patients.
