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pharmacy performs against three questions patients are pondering: does this pharmacy resolve my issues, does it care for me, and does it recognise me as an individual? “When you look at your patient, are you solving their issues?” he said. “How are you helping them feel better today than they did yesterday? “The pharmacy holds the complete solution because it has the script, a variety of products, selection of services, and a range of devices that might help that patient.” Being seen to genuinely care for patients is an area where pharmacy can outperform online services every time, as it offers the opportunity to build rapport and go the extra mile, something an online process is unable to do. Knowing about your patient and acting on that knowledge are demonstrations that you care. “There was a fascinating insight that came out of some research from Instigo”, Mr Garrett said. “It was found that the patient wants a pharmacist to think creatively and introduce them to a holistic solution that might meet their needs.” Thinking creatively can go in any number of directions, with many examples of different solution-based professional services pharmacies are offering across Australia. These include asthma solutions, teledentistry and wound care, each of which has minimal set-up costs and can be handled by pharmacy assistants, so the pharmacists remain free to manage those tasks that only they can do. Other services, such as pain solutions or consulting in the men’s health space, also have minimal set-up costs and can predominantly be handled by pharmacy assistants, with input from pharmacists available if needed and referrals to specialists a common outcome. Driving service uptake The key to driving the uptake of professional services is ensuring you, as pharmacy assistants, recognise opportunities and know how to present them to suitable patients. Where professional services are dependent only on the pharmacist, their workload becomes unmanageable, so it’s essential to become involved as much as possible. Professional services also need to be silently promoted inside the pharmacy, using signs and shelf talkers that can be followed up with suitable dialogue. For example, if you’re performing vaccinations, Mr Garrett suggests having a scoreboard in the pharmacy showing how many patients you’ve vaccinated. This works well as a memory jogger for some patients and, as the number vaccinated increases, it’s a reassuring sign showing people are getting vaccinated. To support this, point customers to the scoreboard and say something along the lines of: “This is how many people we’ve helped in the community with vaccination. Are you planning to get vaccinated, too?” To help raise awareness and uptake of other professional services, Mr Garrett suggests another useful model to help you engage with patients: the ‘if-then’ approach, which he says is a great dialogue tool. “An example of its use is to say to a patient, ‘If you’re on five medicines or more, then you might be suitable for MedsCheck’,” he said. “Another example is to say, ‘If you’re coming in with chronic pain and buying this particular pain relief, then maybe you’ll benefit from the PainWISE solution we offer in our pharmacy’.” The most effective professional services are found where the pharmacy team does more, not the pharmacist. If everything depends on the pharmacist, then the model is immediately limited by your availability. How do I discuss price? Mr Garrett recommends putting up a service list in the pharmacy so that people know how much each of the professional services cost. “Many pharmacies still find the idea of charging a patient challenging and a little different, but we’ve been doing so many things for free for a long time,” he said. “However, research says people are willing to pay if you have three things: a professional person, a professional space, and you offer a tangible takeaway. “If you still don’t feel comfortable delving into this space, consider differential pricing whereby you might charge $3 for members and $5 for non-members. Typically, the members feel happy because they’re getting a discount, and the non-members will probably sign up.” INDUSTRY EDUCATION 13 Mr Garrett recommends that, having decided on the price, it should be advertised in the pharmacy because it helps to avoid embarrassment later. To help when discussing price with patients or potential patients, he suggests using the CCCT model, representing cost, content, commitment and time. He advised: “An example of how you’d run through this would be to say: ‘A session with the diabetes educator costs X \[the cost component\] and she’ll talk to you about XYZ \[content component\]. I’ll just need to make an appointment with you’ \[commitment\], and it’s for 20 minutes on Monday, the fourth \[time\]. Then you simply ask, ‘How does that sound?’.” Having processes like this will give your pharmacy staff confidence when doing something for the first few times and create a consistency that patients and staff will find professional and efficient. Golden rules Professional services is an area of pharmacy that has grown exponentially in other parts of the world. If you don’t embrace the opportunity, somebody else will. Identify services that fit within your existing capabilities and focus on growing them through promotion with signage and dialogue inside the pharmacy and through social media and other suitable promotions externally. Look for opportunities to bring in a range of different health services such as physiotherapists, diabetes educators, dietitians, sleep apnoea specialists, etc, and have them in your consult room for one day each week or month, depending on demand. This lays the foundation for a local health hub that will revolve around your pharmacy and create retail revenue at the same time. Pharmacy staff should be actively involved in the provision of professional services. This includes identifying opportunities, introducing the service to patients and, where possible, providing the service itself. In all of this, it’s important to teach your staff about the importance of identifying professional service opportunities. Mr Garrett suggests the best way to approach this is to follow a pattern of solution-based thinking: when asked for a product, staff should think beyond the product to a solution, then get into the habit of asking the patient, ‘what else?’ RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • JUN 2020