Summertime is here—warmer temperatures, longer daylight hours, and vacations, including those for your staff. You know they work hard all year long and deserve some rest and relaxation, but how can you keep your pharmacy running efficiently during scheduling gaps? Being unprepared can disrupt your workflow and potentially impact patient care.
While filling these gaps can be challenging, having a proper action plan and staff training go a long way toward keeping operations in tip-top shape. More importantly, being proactive ensures your patients continue to get the high-quality care they have come to expect.
Cross Train Your Staff
Cross training your staff on nearly every function of your pharmacy operations allows more flexibility with filling scheduling gaps and redistributing workload more efficiently. Plus, it boosts employee skills and morale, as it helps further their professional development.
Areas for Opportunity to Cross Train
- Workstation operations, such as filling, data entry, and insurance billing
- Front-of-store sales
- Clinical service protocols, such as:
- Immunizations
- Medication synchronization
- Blood pressure checks
- A1C monitoring
- Medication Therapy Management (MTM)
When cross training, ensure each employee understands their role and what tools are accessible to successfully complete expected tasks. For example, make sure appropriate staff members have logins and know how to access clinical program platforms, such as EQUIPP®, Outcomes®, Optum Rx® MedMonitor, and AlignRx Clinical Connection.
Designate a Backup Clinical Programs Champion
If you haven’t already, nominating a point person as your pharmacy’s clinical programs champion can help you meet your team’s clinical goals. Clinical programs champions can help reduce pharmacist burden, improve workflow efficiency, and foster a culture of clinical excellence among your team. This individual can be a pharmacist, technician, or other team member—preferably someone who has demonstrated strong leadership skills and understands your pharmacy’s workflow well.
It’s equally important to designate a qualified team member to fill in as backup for your clinical programs champion in the event the champion calls out sick or takes a vacation. Your backup should be cross trained on clinical programs champion duties, including tracking clinical goals, accessing clinical programs platforms, and leading workflow.
Workflow Best Practices to Ease Scheduling Gaps
Having a workflow that streamlines daily operations is key. Ensuring your staff is on the same page with these processes can keep everything on track when certain team members are not available:
- Use dispensing software alerts, daily task lists, or printed reports to keep staff on track.
- Hold a team huddle to discuss focus areas for the week, review program goals, identify roadblocks, and answer team questions.
- Identify patients due for medication refills during the week, and determine if those patients have opportunities in enhanced services platforms.
- Log in to enhanced services platforms, such as EQUIPP, MedMonitor, Outcomes, and Clinical Connection to review potential opportunities and earned revenue.
Resources for Staff Training
When it comes to clinical program platforms, several options can help your staff learn best practices and how to navigate these various platforms.
Vendor Training
- AlignRx PSAO members can access recorded webinars and walkthroughs on best practices on how to use Clinical Connection.
- EQUIPP offers a repository of educational videos, how-to articles, types of quality measures, and more for utilizing the platform.
- MedMonitor provides a video overview of how to use the platform for comprehensive medication reviews.
- Outcomes features a library of resources on various clinical services programs, opportunities, and best practices.
Webinars
- The AlignRx Clinical Services team hosts monthly interactive webinars about Clinical Connection and clinical program best practices for PSAO members.
- MedMonitor holds live, semi-monthly webinars with in-depth platform tutorials and an opportunity to ask the MedMonitor team questions.
Live Training
- AlignRx offers live training sessions with its Clinical Services team for PSAO members, which can be tailored to a pharmacy staff’s needs.
Need help getting started on your action plan and staff cross training? The AlignRx Clinical Services team is here to provide guidance on developing a strategy for scheduling gaps and workflow optimization, including staff cross-training initiatives. Learn more about our clinical services offerings and how AlignRx can help you achieve your clinical goals.