3 Ways to Streamline Your Pharmacy’s Workflow
The ability to fill prescriptions quickly is an important aspect of customer satisfaction for pharmacies. Whether you manage a retail location or a pharmacy in a healthcare facility, it’s important to make sure your team has a streamlined workflow to fulfill orders efficiently. From identifying bottlenecks to having pharmacy casework installed strategically, here’s what you can do to enhance your pharmacy’s workflow.
How to Improve Your Pharmacy Workflow
1. Identify Challenges
In order to know how to streamline workflows, you must first identify your current pain points. Are pharmacy techs constantly running into each other? Are there too many hard-to-reach areas in their work environment? Is the pharmacy simply too dispersed and requires a significant walking distance to fill every prescription? Talk to your staff to find out what their major complaints are; the information they divulge can serve as a perfect starting point for your streamlining pursuit.
2. Optimize Movement
Once the barriers have been identified, work to improve them by optimizing the flow of traffic. Typically, this starts with reducing the amount of unnecessary walking your team does. Find ways to situate work areas closer to your technicians. This may include grouping workstations together by placing pharmacy casework closer to computers or relocating the computers, so staff members don’t have to walk quite as far.
3. Utilize Stations
Another way to streamline your pharmacy workflow is to create stations where each employee can fulfill a specific responsibility. This workstation method is often more efficient than having each employee manage an entire workflow on their own. Use pharmacy casework to create different stations for various points of the prescription filling process, and then assign an employee to each one.
If you’re seeking ways to optimize the workflow in your pharmacy, turn to Midwest Medical Systems. Specializing in pharmacy casework, this team uses modular solutions to enhance traffic patterns and productivity in pharmacies and other medical environments. Find out more about their design, build, and installation services online, or discuss your pharmacy’s needs by calling (800) 762-7722.