Your veterinary pharmacy may be doing brisk business because both vets and pet owners realize that your staff knows their stuff. As the saying goes, don't fix what isn't broken, so all you have to do is keep doing what you're doing, and the pharmacy will be a continued success, right? Almost. Clearly, you're doing something right. But that does not mean you want to assume everything will continue to be right. You'll want to evaluate how things are going to ensure you find smaller issues quickly when they're still relatively easy to fix. Those issues can range from the practical, such as supply chain and equipment problems, to changes in how your staff members are approaching consultations.  

You Forget Who's Gotten a Consultation

In a really busy veterinary pharmacy, customer faces can start to blur together. You may actually forget who has used what medication before, leading you to offer a consultation to a customer who doesn't need it, while someone else who has questions about the medication for their pet is left standing to the side, unsure. In most cases, of course, either you or the customer corrects the situation. But it shouldn't happen in the first place. Take a good look at how your customers look as they leave the pharmacy, and stop any who look unsure. Double-check that they've gotten their questions answered.

You Start to Omit Details in Your Consultations

If you have to explain how to use a certain medication over and over again, you develop a memorized speech. When the pharmacy gets really busy, you might start to shorten that speech as much as possible to be able to help customers more quickly. Over time, this can lead to you and your staff forgetting to mention smaller details to customers who have not yet had to administer the medicine to their pets. You may want to have interactions between your staff and customers evaluated to ensure staff are mentioning all relevant pieces of information to those who haven't used the medication or whose pets have complicating factors that require different administration methods, for example.

You and your staff may actually want to have outside consultants come in; they can help determine if any additional training is needed for your staff and whether the consultations you have with your customers are still adequate. If you can spot issues now and fix them, your veterinary pharmacy can continue to be a success, helping customers and their pets use medication and other treatments safely.

For more information or an evaluation of your current pharmacy system, contact a vet pharmacy consulting service.

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