• Behind the pharmacy counter, time is in short supply. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are responsible for a seemingly endless list of tasks, leaving many stressed and burned out. Fortunately, the availability of pharmacy automation technology has made some of these tasks far more efficient in recent years.
•  
• Reconstituting liquid medications has traditionally between a time-consuming task as it requires pharmacy staff to stop what they're doing to fill the prescription when the patient arrives to pick it up.

To make filling liquid medications easier, FLAVORx and Fillmaster offer purified water dispensers that provide clean water on demand. Whether you fill 50 liquid medications a day or 5, FLAVORx and Fillmaster have a dispenser that will change the way you dispense liquid scripts.

It’s no secret that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians experience a high level of stress on the job. They are responsible for making sure their patients get their medicine safely and accurately, but conditions in the pharmacy do not always facilitate the concentration needed to do their job to the best of their ability. Many pharmacists report that they feel pushed to meet nearly impossible metrics that emphasize quantity of patients over quality of service. Add in long hours and staff shortages and you have an overworked profession pushed to the point where errors are more likely to happen. Additional responsibilities like COVID vaccination and testing have only intensified stress put on a workforce already strained to its breaking point. 

It’s clear that a change is needed in the pharmacy industry that will improve working conditions for pharmacy employees, therefore improving patient safety. Pharmacies across the country are now looking to pharmacy automation systems for a solution to save time and reduce errors. Pharmacy automation uses machines to automate tasks in the pharmacy workflow, freeing up pharmacy staff for important customer-focused duties.

In the midst of a global health crisis, pharmacies have an essential role to play in their communities. Even though people might be staying home more according to social distancing guidelines, your pharmacy’s marketing strategy doesn’t need to grind to a halt. With a little creativity, you can continue to effectively market your pharmacy and help customers get the most out of their pharmacy

experience.

1. Make social media a priority

Since the pandemic first took hold around the world, maintaining good hygiene has been one of the enduring guidelines for staying healthy. We’ve all made practices like frequent handwashing, wearing a mask, and maintaining a six-foot distance and limiting contact from others part of our everyday lifestyle with the hope that they will prevent COVID-19 from spreading. As businesses that are essential to their communities’ health, pharmacies have had to take extra precaution to keep their patients and
employees safe.

The CDC has advised pharmacies to minimize time customers spend on the premises and limit contact between and staff and patients as much as possible. With the high business volume that pharmacies see, it can be difficult to get customers in and out of the pharmacy quickly with their questions answered and everything they need. During a time when safety and hygiene are the top priority, pharmacy automation can be a key factor towards maintaining a healthy environment in the pharmacy.

Time Saving 

Of the many guidelines that have been put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, keeping a safe distance from others may be one of the most important and most difficult to maintain. If a pharmacy is busy, it’s difficult to get people in and out quickly and efficiently while still providing them with good service. Pharmacy automation can save pharmacy staff time, allowing customers to spend less time in public in contact with others.

Reconstituting medications is a unique task in the pharmacy workflow that often leads to customers standing around waiting. Unlike prescriptions for pills and tablets, reconstituted medications can’t be filled ahead of time. They must be reconstituted when the customer arrives to pick them up. During a pandemic when people are being encouraged to spend less time in businesses, automating reconstitution can help reduce customers’ wait time. A pharmacy water dispenser can reduce the time needed to reconstitute a medication from minutes to mere seconds. That’s less time a customer must spend waiting in the pharmacy in contact with pharmacy employees and other customers.

Reduced contact

Pharmacy, like the rest of the world, has been turned upside down since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With all of the changes that have come about over the past few months and fewer kids getting normal illnesses that come with being together in school, maybe your flavoring program hasn’t been a priority. Now that we’re heading into cough, cold, and flu and season, it’s time to dust off those bottles of Bubblegum and Sweetening Enhancer and get back to helping kids take their medicine.