What makes a Pharmacist happy?

[Rsparkman51]

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Hello everyone!

This is my fist post on any type of forum, so if I comes out akward I apologize. I have been reading threads on here for a few days and it seems like you all are a very helpful group. I hope I can get some of your thoughts...

I am brand new to the Pharmacy industry. I am not a pharmacist or a pharm student. I'm actually working for the sales and marketing department of a small generic distributor. Its not what I went to school for, but I'm blessed to have a job and I'm trying to take it by storm.

What I am hoping to find out is what makes a Retail Pharmacist's job easier on the wholesaler/distributor side of the business. I have been reading about nightmares with customers, doctors, and eRx's, so I would love to see what I could do to make your lives easier, if at all possible. We are a brand new company with no bad habits or defined ways of doing business. Therefore, I am hoping to help start our company off on the right foot, and maybe even set a trend or standard for the future. So if you could, please give me any thought, ideas, or opinions that you have on this topic.

Thank you for your time, it is VERY appreciated!

 

[quickfeet]

The front office manager with the associates degree giving gift cards to crack heads who complain that I won't fill their vicodin/soma/benzos early and then reaming me out needs to be told to stfu and know their role. That'd be a start.

 

[MountainPharmD]

You have asked 2 very different questions. The title of the thread says "What makes a Pharmacist happy?" My answer to that question is; payday, days off, vacation, matching 401k contributions and my family are a few.

In the body of your thread you ask a very different question "what makes a Retail Pharmacist's job easier on the wholesaler/distributor side." Honestly I have never thought about it. I have never had to deal with a wholesaler or a distributer on a personel level. All the contracts are signed at corporate so I do not have to worry about that. We certainly would never deal with an individual company since all retail chains get there drugs from big wholesale companies like Amerisource, McKesson or Cardinal.

 

[kvl1027]

Hello everyone!

This is my fist post on any type of forum, so if I comes out akward I apologize. I have been reading threads on here for a few days and it seems like you all are a very helpful group. I hope I can get some of your thoughts...

I am brand new to the Pharmacy industry. I am not a pharmacist or a pharm student. I'm actually working for the sales and marketing department of a small generic distributor. Its not what I went to school for, but I'm blessed to have a job and I'm trying to take it by storm.

What I am hoping to find out is what makes a Retail Pharmacist's job easier on the wholesaler/distributor side of the business. I have been reading about nightmares with customers, doctors, and eRx's, so I would love to see what I could do to make your lives easier, if at all possible. We are a brand new company with no bad habits or defined ways of doing business. Therefore, I am hoping to help start our company off on the right foot, and maybe even set a trend or standard for the future. So if you could, please give me any thought, ideas, or opinions that you have on this topic.

Thank you for your time, it is VERY appreciated!

I just love it when my distributer subs something they have in stock for something they don't have in stock just because the item is under a sub contract agreement. I understand the purpose of sub agreements, but if you have the sub'd item, why sub it? It really pisses me off.

 

[owlegrad]

This is my fist post on any type of forum, so if I comes out akward I apologize. I have been reading threads on here for a few days and it seems like you all are a very helpful group. I hope I can get some of your thoughts...

You are new to this forum.

Things I like from a distributor:

Being on time with deliveries. I hate late deliveries, especially because it seems we are always waiting for at least one of the items on the order. Mistake-free orders are also just great.

Answering the phone quickly when I call, and even more importantly, being able to answer my questions quickly and accurately. This is one thing I do not care for when I call Cardinal - they never give me the impression that my questions are being answered correctly.

 

[Rsparkman51]

You are new to this forum.

Things I like from a distributor:

Being on time with deliveries. I hate late deliveries, especially because it seems we are always waiting for at least one of the items on the order. Mistake-free orders are also just great.

Answering the phone quickly when I call, and even more importantly, being able to answer my questions quickly and accurately. This is one thing I do not care for when I call Cardinal - they never give me the impression that my questions are being answered correctly.

When you order an item, do you request which distributor you would like your products from? Or do you just order the product from the wholesaler?

 

[owlegrad]

When you order an item, do you request which distributor you would like your products from? Or do you just order the product from the wholesaler?

OK I have to admit I don't know what you are asking me here. What is the difference between a distributor and a wholesaler?

But to answer your question, I have only ever ordered from Cardinal and I have never made any kind of special request about distributors. I pretty much like their website and I have never had a terrible experience when I call, except that I always have the impression that I am talking to some minimum wage earning person who couldn't be less interested in answering my question.

I had to call to request a special delivery one time and I wasn't impressed at all with how my questions were answered. I was trying to find out about deadlines/item limits/etc. and I just couldn't get her to give me straight answers. She just kept running around the questions. I got the feeling that she didn't know the answer and did not want to give me any specifics. I never get the feeling that I am talking to someone who knows what they are talking about, if that makes any sense. I did get the special delivery in the end though, so I guess I cannot complain too much.

On the other hand, like I said I like their website. I particularly like that it will tell you if they are OOS on a particular item. I like that our deliveries are pretty consistently on time. One time we were missing a tote, but for the most part the orders are accurate. The time we were missing a tote I just called and told them about it and they sent us all the missing items the next day. I was pretty happy with how they handled it, luckily none of the missing items were crucial. I guess some other pharmacy got a free tote-full of drugs.

EDIT: something that used to annoy me before I got used to it is using 6 totes for 30 items. I am sure it makes sense in the warehouse or something but I never understood why they don't fill the totes up instead of using so many for small orders. That isn't important by any stretch of the imagination, but I never understood it.

 

[type b pharmD]

EDIT: something that used to annoy me before I got used to it is using 6 totes for 30 items. I am sure it makes sense in the warehouse or something but I never understood why they don't fill the totes up instead of using so many for small orders. That isn't important by any stretch of the imagination, but I never understood it.

LOL classic!!

sometimes i swear we got one tote per item

 

[owlegrad]

LOL classic!!

sometimes i swear we got one tote per item

In the example of the missing tote, the only item in that tote was docusate sodium. That doesn't seem like a waste at all does it?

In retrospect the phrase "tote-full" may have been misleading. But anyone who is used to putting away an order knows that "tote-full" is code for a few items at best.

 

[pharm B]

What makes a pharmacist happy? Based on what I've learned here, the answer is definitely: riding lawnmowers.

 

[rxlea]

What makes a pharmacist happy? Based on what I've learned here, the answer is definitely: riding lawnmowers.

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