What is Pharmacy Management?
Pharmacy management is the administration of a pharmacy and its operations. To the ordinary person this is just the dispensing of medication and prescriptions, but a pharmacy manager also has to handle stock, staff, and the shop’s finances.
Pharmacists effectively double up as consultants for basic inquiries about medicine and health, so it’s important to ensure there is a structure and organisation around these specialists to ensure proper care.
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Written by Liam Sheasby
Modern pharmacy management is now beginning to utilise Pharmacy Management Software as a solution to aiding and improving the quality of service and thus the quality of care.
Pharmacy Management Software can provide a range of information regarding patient history or patient records that help with regards the prescription of medication, and the conversation about the impact of this medication.
Why you need Pharmacy Management
Pharmacy management typically comprises of six key areas:
- Prescription Dispensing
The dispensing of medicine prescription is the primary function of a pharmacy, distributing prescribed tablets or other medicines to patients as part of a treatment plan set by a GP. - Stock
A pharmacy manager has a duty to ensure that the medicines required by patients and any associated doctor’s surgery are in stock and available for prescription, else risk impacting a patient’s recovery and potentially even exacerbating their condition. - Staff
Pharmacy management must ensure one pharmacist is on site at all times, as well as managing the staff roster of pharmacists, assistants, and technicians to ensure the workload is managed correctly and fairly. There is also then the element of being a manager and managing staff requirements or grievances. - Finances
Accounts need to be maintained to detail the daily take from sales, as well as salaries and taxes that need to be paid and payments to medical suppliers. - Marketing & Sales
A less important role, a good pharmacy manager will keep a careful eye on non-prescription stock to identify what products patients and customers alike are and are not interested in. - Customer Service
This relates to staff and people management. It’s important for pharmacy assistants to be friendly and approachable when engaging with customers. Customers are typically unwell, anxious, and looking for reassurance. Pharmacy management ensures that appropriate staff are appointed and appropriate training is provided to maintain a good service.
Pharmacy management is important because without proper oversight, a pharmacy will not operate correctly or even safely. It is a requirement of a pharmacy to be properly staffed by trained professionals who can dispense specific medication to ill people.
Mistakes with prescriptions can do more damage to a person’s health than actually benefit them, but the same also applies with regards management of the pharmacy stock. A lack of medication can seriously harm people with lifelong conditions or a severe illness.
Patients often forget in the stress of the moment to ask a GP something about their prescription, so it’s beneficial for a pharmacist to be able to act in a similar capacity to help inform and reassure a person regarding their treatment. This is where pharmacy management software can help, offering interoperability between hospitals, GP surgeries, and pharmacies.
Benefits of Pharmacy Management
Healthcare software solutions are benefiting other areas of healthcare provision, and pharmacy management is no different. Pharmacy Management Software (PMS) can help a pharmacy be more efficient and more effective.
Digital interoperability between software tools means online patient portals can promote communication between experts, such as clinicians and pharmacists, and the patient. With access to medical history or patient records, joined-up care can be provided that informs the patient and helps keep their treatment process on track.
Pharmacy software also benefits some of the key areas of pharmacy management, reducing the burden on staff members across the board.
See how we can support you with our Pharmacy Management Software
Benefits of Pharmacy Management Software
Prescription Dispensing
Pharmacy Management Software can communicate with other healthcare systems to automatically generate a patient’s prescription – which a pharmacist can then verify and pack. No more scruffy clinician handwriting to query, less repetition with cross-checking, and fewer errors as a result of less stress; all of which cumulates in better patient care.
Stock
The software can also monitor stock levels and manage procurement. This makes the pharmacy manager’s life easier because they know what they have and what is needed. PMS also automates the finances behind purchasing, tracking costs and billing.
Demand Trends
A pharmacy manager can also receive alerts or notifications to highlight potential risks to medication levels or to highlight things like trends; seasonal increases in cold & flu medication demand as winter approaches for example.
Customer Service
By improving the workflow and automating any arduous or repetitive tasks, pharmacy staff will benefit from a reduced workload and reduced stress, which in turn helps improve productivity and their customer or patient engagement
What is eMAR and how it supports pharmacy management?
eMAR is an acronym which stands for Electronic Medication Administration Records. Modern healthcare is going electronic with eMAR, turning to new digital applications designed to make the administration of medication across a care setting safer and more compliant.
These tools are rapidly being implemented by care providers nationwide and offer a unique opportunity to pharmacy providers; whether already servicing care home providers or looking to enter this market.
Traditionally, providing high volumes of items for care homes is an attractive proposition for many pharmacies, however in recent years tariff cuts have eroded the value pharmacies can derive from this channel. The uptake of digital solutions and particularly eMAR across the sector could help to address this though.
Why your pharmacy needs to embrace eMAR
Part of pharmacy management is ensuring the viability of the business, and additional revenue streams are always welcome. Digital solutions are changing the shape of pharmacy provision nationwide, making it easier, quicker & more profitable to service care homes utilising digital solutions.
Original Pack vs Monitored Dose
eMAR allows for the easier transition from OPD to MDS, making each item dispensed to care homes more profitable.
Retaining clients
The introduction of eMAR technology makes clients stickier as they are reliant on using a pharmacy that can work with their technology, meaning they are more likely to stay with your service, provided the service level is good.
Winning New Business
Offering an eMAR tool makes you more attractive as a pharmacy provider, allowing you to win more new business.
Efficiencies in Branch
eMAR tools that integrate with your PMR can make dispensing quicker and simpler.
Access Pharmacy Partnership Scheme
An additional incentive to help your homes digitise. The Access Group also run an rebate scheme to reward our pharmacy partners who introduce Access Medication Management to their clients.
The goal of pharmacy management software
The ultimate goal behind any variety of pharmacy management and implementing pharmacy management software – whether direct or via eMAR – is to improve patient health outcomes. Reduced time on repetitive work that can lower concentration means more time to spend engaging with patients and their medical history.
This means more attention on the individual and their treatment plan, and that in turn fully utilises both the pharmacist, as the consultants or counsellors they are often seen as, and care workers. This expertise can help a patient fill in gaps of knowledge that a GP or clinician missed, or they simply forgot to ask. More knowledge helps reduce patient stress, and the combination leads to better self-care too.
Find out how our software can help with your pharmacy management needs
