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CPD ACTIVITY 41 RIGHT PEOPLE, RIGHT ROLES FOR BETTER SERVICE PROVISION Shannon Kerr MBA As a marketer and project manager with more than 20 years’ experience, Shannon has focused on the community-pharmacy space for the past 10 years. Shannon’s experience encompasses branding, digital marketing, loyalty programs, above the line and retail marketing. Her project skills enable a coherent and integrated message across all elements of pharmacy marketing. Shannon Kerr works at instigo. For the purposes of full disclosure, instigo has a commercial relationship with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to deliver the Health Advice Plus program into community pharmacy. Instigo also provides a range of business services to API including some marketing services, professional services coaching for Soul Pattinson and Pharmacist Advice stores and outsourced merchandising resources for Soul Pattinson, Pharmacist Advice and Club Premium. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: • After completing this CPD activity, pharmacists should be able to: • Identify key roles and provide clarification around the tasks required to implement health services. • Make necessary changes to job descriptions to ensure health service implementation and delivery are included. • Review individual key performance indicators; set targets linked to roles where necessary. 2016 Competency Standards: 4.4, 4.6. Accreditation number: A2008RP4 (exp: 31/07/2020). Introduction The latest 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement1 creates some surety for community pharmacy, while continuing to focus on the development and provision of health services within the industry, through its commitment to the advancement of the 10-year primary healthcare plan. Key areas of focus for the latest agreement include: • Medication adherence programs (dose administration aids and staged supply). • Medication management programs (home medicines reviews, residential medication management reviews, quality use of medicines in residential aged care facilities, MedsChecks and diabetes MedsChecks). In the past few months community pharmacy in Australia has cemented its role as a key part of the health network, playing an essential link between patients and access to medical services. Ensuring a pharmacy is an active services provider is key to future-proofing a community pharmacy. As an owner, you will need to establish what the future will look like. What services and products will you provide and how will these benefit your patients? How will they strengthen your business against your competitors and ensure your pharmacy is ‘future-proofed’? As always, your people are the most essential consideration in changing processes and building skillsets. The capability, understanding and cohesion of your team will determine the success of health services within your pharmacy. There are several aspects to consider and review when successfully introducing health services into your pharmacy, including: • Reviewing current team roles. • Creating new team roles. • Changes to job descriptions. • Changes to rostering. Role clarity When implementing any new program or service in your pharmacy (to improve or optimise return from an existing service), it’s important to review your pharmacy workflow and identify the key team members who will be assisting with the implementation of the service. It’s essential to have clarity surrounding the roles in your organisation, which helps those involved to understand what is expected of them. Generally, there are five key roles to review as part of this process (in some circumstances, multiple roles are held by the one staff member): 1. Owner/pharmacist in charge. 2. Pharmacist. 3. Professional services pharmacist. 4. Dispensary assistant. 5. Professional services coordinator. Owner/pharmacist in charge (PIC) The owner and/or PIC’s involvement in the initial planning stage for the implementation of the service is fundamental to the success of the program. Without this ‘buy in’, it’s often very hard to achieve the traction needed to implement and sustain changes. The key skills required in this role include: • Attention to detail and time management. • Leadership. • Goal setting. • Strategic thinking and planning. • Delegation. • Customer focus. • Sales and marketing. • Financial skills. Pharmacists Although you may designate a professional services pharmacist who is responsible for the overall delivery of professional services, it’s key that all pharmacists understand the offer and are able to deliver a range of specific services. Key skills required: TO PAGE 42 RETAIL PHARMACY • AUG 2020 1 CPD CREDIT