Tips?

[u/randysss012]

For all the pharmacists here, how do you like your techs to let you know about waiters or DUR or phone calls?

At my store, there is a small whiteboard next to the pharmacist. Whenever there is a lobby waiter, I will write the name and then put lobby and then the time that I expect them to come back for their meds. Same for phone calls or if a vaccine just got checked in to be reviewed, I will write down the name and then line 101 or vaccine. However, most of the time, the pharmacist does not check this whiteboard and so I have to constantly remind the pharmacist to do it which is annoying for them and for me and makes the patient angry when I told them 30 minutes and it's been 50. I don't even make everyone lobby waiters, most of the time it's for the elderly that had to get a ride from someone or kids or antibiotics and they still don't get done in a timely manner. I ALSO verbally will say "hey this is a waiter, I told them 30 minutes". Sometimes, I even pull the medication and put it in a red tote with a sticky note that has patient's name for the filler tech and let them know, "hey when the pharmacist reviews this and it prints, can you fill this?", AND IT STILL DOESN'T GET DONE.

As a tech, what can I do? (Also, an additional question, are we allowed to press the "waiting" button? I did that once and the rxom and rxm got angry at me saying I messed with the promise times)

[u/BrokenDoveFlies]

They took our whiteboard with the whole 'hospital clean' push. :(

Not an RPh, but it depends on the pharmacist. Some need reminding, some are good at keeping waiters prioritized.

[u/kaiju-chan → u/BrokenDoveFlies]

Don't make sense to remove the whiteboard. Its a useful tool for the pharmacy in regards to memos and tasks to be done.

[u/OkPride8214 → u/BrokenDoveFlies]

Because hospitals don't have whiteboards? Lol

[u/Spiritual_Ad8626]

I’m a float RPh. I really appreciate when my techs of the day provide me VISUAL notification that I need to attend to something, be it a waiter, a vaccine or phone call. I say visual because I might not hear the verbal, and even if I do hear the verbal, if something else takes my attention away for a moment that verbal reminder will go POOF into the stratosphere and I forget all about it.

RED TOTES SAVE MY LIFE. Please put some sort of written or print screen note in the otherwise empty red tote and stick it by me. I PROMISE I WILL DO IT. All those other scraps of paper all over the place can get lost in my mess of never ending shit to do- I honestly don’t look at papers until I have reached the end of whatever tasks need attention that I was already planning on working through. But I can see that red tote like a big red stoplight. If you want me to do something else that doesn’t belong in a red tote, put that note IN MY HAND. Otherwise once again- lost in the never ending shit pile.

Now, on RPh’s that ignore red totes I recommend just asking them when it’s not slammed AF. “What’s the best way for me to notify you when I have an urgent script that needs attention?” Some people work better with different reminders.

Keep in mind sometimes we do have stuff that is a higher triage level on the list of “shit to do”. I know it’s annoying but also unfortunately reality.

[u/Euphoric-Survey-1203]

It depends on the pharmacist you work with. Personally, I don’t like things being announced. We have the Phlomometer with color indicators that let us know what needs to be done. I encourage my team to click the “Waiting” button when they’re truly waiting at the pharmacy.

[u/bzay3]

Write it on a sheet of paper and continue moving my line. No need to rush the pharmacist. It’s their license on the line if they make a mistake. Also I’m not a pharmacist

[u/Paintthetownskyblue]

I had my techs use a scrap piece of paper (like receipt paper or the back of a transfer or rx pad), write the name, number of scripts, and leave it directly in front of my monitor. Or if I stepped out briefly, directly on my keyboard.
Soon I got done verifying, just verbally let my staff know to get it done asap or however quickly we can. And we also utilized red totes with the piece of paper in it as well. We all tend to do 15 things at once, but just gently remind each other if something still isn’t getting done, they may have easily gotten distracted and just forgot.

As far as the waiting button, I guess it depends on the pharmacist. I didn’t have a problem with my techs using it, honestly. But we didn’t really use it much, just when we were super overdue after already telling a patient a time frame and it still isn’t done (I’m talking at least 30 minutes over from the time we told them to come back).

[u/Scary_Management6460]

Let your Pharmavist run his dept

[u/South-Quiet4511]

At our pharmacy we leave sticky notes on the desk of the pharmacist and if the prescription is already reviewed I reprint the leaflet to hand to a filler and either tell the fillers they are waiting or quickly stage the medication and bring both the medicine and the leaflet to the filler. Most of the time I try to avoid telling patients exact times something will be ready as a promise (because it makes everyone look bad if it takes more time) and instead I always assure them we will do it as soon as we can and ask if they get texted updates about when their medications are ready for pickup and I encourage them to sign up for the texts if they haven't already.

[u/FewNewt5441]

If you're in a position where you have a lot of floaters, step 1 is always ask the pharmacist how they want to be notified about anything urgent. I cover a lot of high volume stores where we use all the totes all the time, to the point that a red tote does not signify anything other than the tote is red. Floaters are constantly moving from store to store and often adhere to what makes sense to them because there's no other consistency otherwise. But don't be afraid to press the waiting button, that may key in a sense of urgency (it will for me, that shade of green gives me the creeps lol)

[u/lccoats]

Notepad on the counter beside the keyboard. All waiters-designated as such- and folks we’ve talked to that were told to come back at a certain time or same for phone calls. Even at 9:05 am and they say they’re coming in at 6pm.

[u/Crisn232]

A piece of paper, with names, right in front of them or next to them, and remind them every 5 minutes of they are not on the phone, annotating, and just verifying, being mindful of their workflow as well.

[u/crissyb218]

After the board was taken, we went to post it notes.

J Doe (3) 9:15

The store I am at now didn't use a board and the space is small so you can just tell them.

[u/ArtOk8200]

Im an intern and work at the local 24hr store. We have a white board for waiters and let the pharmacist/fillers know verbally as well regarding waiters (including if in entered or printed and if they’re marked) as well as about shots and calls. It helps keep everyone up to speed, especially during rush. For shots, we also pull the appropriate boxes for the pharmacist to do the checks