The new year – still fresh – presents an opportunity not only to look back at all that was accomplished over the past 12 months, but also to look ahead and set priorities for the new year.
The RRSP deadline looms the end of February, and the new year brings an additional $7,000 of contribution room for Tax-Free Savings Accounts. Ideally, it would be great to maximize contributions to both RRSPs and TFSAs, but in some cases pharmacists can’t afford to do both every year.
Compartmentalization permits risk management. Viewing your pharmacy down into its pieces can bring tremendous advantage. Structuring workflow or systems such that if disaster happens, only pieces are lost instead of the whole may sound tedious, but after one disaster the value will be evident.
Ever find yourself working harder than you need to in the process of buying something for your pharmacy? When choosing a vendor, I have learned that I prefer to do business with those I can communicate with, which is a nice way of saying that I do not have to babysit them.
Two chronic afflictions can kill your pharmacy business – too much inventory and high overhead. If they get out of control, either one can ruin your business. With today's relatively affordable computerized business systems, there's no excuse for losing control.
We know that emotional decisions rarely end being up the right ones. When this happens, great leaders have the ability to zoom out, resist the urge to be swept away by the details and focus on the overall broader situation.
I am firm in my belief that community pharmacy in Canada is part of the solution to the challenges that Canadians are facing in accessing primary care.
The beginning of a new year often has people looking hopeful at the possibility of what may be. Yet we know the vast majority of people who set New Year’s resolutions drop them within days or weeks of starting them. And they do this year after year.
In a repetitive pharmacy world that craves constant peaks of new-ness, those with the ability to grind will out-succeed those that make impulse decisions and routinely make big pharmacy system changes. Resisting temptation in a world of abundance can be your ally.
One job of the pharmacy leader is to moderate the range of personalities on the team. Once the right people are involved, everyone’s opinion is valid and part of the process of arriving at the best decisions, but only if everyone is given an opportunity to speak.
Wow, there has been a lot going on in pharmacy in Canada. I was starting to write a completely different blog, but that update simply had to wait, given the recent communication from Express Scripts Canada (ESC) introducing a monthly service fee to pharmacy providers beginning January 1, 2024.
Within the world of pharmacy, we must be intentional to show the value that is provided to our patients. In the absence of recognizing the value, a patient can become disengaged with his care.
Labour shortages have been a fact of life for generations. Complicating this situation is the significant upset in staff availability over the holidays. So how do you plan your pharmacy staffing for the holiday season?
If your experience is anything like mine, the ability to add value to our patients and customers is a seismic shift! I wish I could say it is just as easy as offering value-add programs, but it not.
Pharmacy is like a snow storm. During a heavy storm, we cannot keep up with the falling snow even with constant shovelling. We end up going about our lives, then dealing with the damage when the storm is over. The act of shovelling is put on hold until after the storm is over.
There are far too many times when a patient is diagnosed, a medication is prescribed, and the timeline to assess success or failure of the therapy is not defined in a timely or meaningful way. It is like a circle that is incomplete.
Tax-loss selling is an investment strategy that can lower your tax bill. Interested in knowing more? Does this apply to your pharmacy business? Read on.
For the pharmacy world struggling with back orders, recalls and mixed-up orders, owing is a part of the job. But owings – or debt – for a pharmacist are analogous to the problem of lost luggage.
Value is what we must set out to deliver. Every day. To every patient we serve. Pharmacists are the Hope of Healthcare (at least partly) because we can deliver that value and have that impact. We are accessible to so many people. Yet here also lies the challenge: are we delivering value?
With a very sparse number of pharmacy staff in the neighbourhood to choose from, we now often select workers without actual pharmacy experience. This means that leaders need to have an even keener eye for detecting the cross-over skills hidden in the stories of those we are interviewing.
Many pharmacist-owners sell their companies and then find something in their lives is missing. They might have dreamed of retirement for a long time as a nirvana of comfort and leisure, but the reality turns out to be something different, and disappointing.
Dr. Yazid Al Hamarneh and his research team took a unique approach to determine how the recent pandemic influenced pharmacists’ roles and professional identity.
By their scientific method, scientists’ actions demonstrate that they do not know the true answer but have ideas as to what it could be. Scientists resist the urge to form irreversible public opinions.
For pharmacists to be the hope of healthcare, we must be ready to articulate the unique problems that we solve. We know we can solve problems. Some of the problems we solve are expressly defined by a local, regional, or national agency.
Do not underestimate your impact, pharmacists! In an age where misinformation is rampant, we need healthcare professionals to communicate in public domains and with the media now more than ever. Pharmacists are expert communicators, it’s what we do every single day!
Pharmacy does not come with a user guide. Pharmacy leaders must hear what is going on in the game and help the players find a solution that fits within the rulebook. To do this, we do not necessarily need to invent the answer ourselves.
Pharmacists are paid to solve problems. Truth be told, every person on planet Earth is paid for the exact same reason. Everyone is paid to solve problems. The chef is paid to solve the problem of people being hungry. The lawyer is paid to solve legal problems.
To protect and grow a large sum of money like the one you (hope to) receive from the sale of your pharmacy business, you need to have a completely different mindset. After you sell, you are no longer an entrepreneur or business-builder. You are an investor.
At Pharmacy U Vancouver I will be discussing how pharmacists can apply a step-wise approach in practice to support the one out of every seven people living with type 2 diabetes in your community pharmacies.
For passionate pharmacists and proactive pharmacy managers looking to elevate their customer services and job satisfaction, integrating specialized wound care services into their existing practice represents an immensely rewarding avenue.
Pharmacy is a little like jumping out of an airplane. It takes bravery, practice, training and most of all, a parachute. While the primary parachute is obvious, there is another essential need before jumping out of the plane: the back-up chute.
Popular Pharmacy U presenter Mike Boivin returns to Vancouver on November 4, 2023 with a thought-provoking and enjoyable lineup of sessions that will leave you with ideas and actions to improve your pharmacy practice.