Two strips lay side by side on a shelf, their names two letters apart. On her second day a new assistant picked the wrong one for a regular's refill. The pharmacist caught it at the check. The customer never knew. The shop was lucky, and the owner knew it. That week he began writing down what a newcomer must see before touching a prescription.
Three desks, three sets of lines
A pharmacy is not one counter. The dispensing counter reads prescriptions and speaks to patients. The store and rack receive stock, check expiry and arrange shelves. The billing desk enters invoices, prints bills and settles accounts. A new joiner usually starts at one and rotates to others. Use a sheet with a common first day and then desk-wise lines.
Name: Role: Outlet: ____.
Joining date: Pharmacist in charge: Buddy: ____.
DAY 1 COMMON.
[ ] Role note, appointment letter and uniform slip signed.
[ ] Shop walk: counter, rack bays, cold fridge, returns box, expiry bin, strip cutter.
[ ] Pharmacist registration display and licence copies shown, who may dispense explained.
[ ] Hand hygiene, mask use and cleaning schedule shown.
DAYS 2-3 DISPENSING COUNTER.
[ ] Read three prescriptions with the pharmacist: drug, strength, dose, days, doctor's stamp.
[ ] Look-alike and sound-alike list read; five pairs spoken aloud.
[ ] Over-the-counter items he may hand over alone, listed and initialled.
[ ] Prescription-only and controlled items: dispensed only with pharmacist's check.
[ ] Counselling script: dose timing, with food, missed dose, storage.
DAY 4 STORE AND RACK.
[ ] Inward invoice checked against stock: batch, expiry, quantity, MRP.
[ ] Fridge temperature log read and a reading entered under supervision.
[ ] Short-dated shelf and return-to-stockist list explained.
[ ] Shelf order by name, type and strength shown; FEFO demonstrated.
DAY 5 BILLING AND DELIVERY.
[ ] Bill raised with scheme and discount; one return and one credit note observed.
[ ] Chronic refill list and reminder calls shown.
[ ] Home delivery slip, cash on delivery and cold pack rule explained.
SATURDAY REVIEW.
[ ] Talk with pharmacist in charge: confusing items, near misses, next week's desk.
Pharmacist: Owner: Joiner: ____.Who signs which line
The pharmacist in charge initials every dispensing line. The owner or manager signs billing and store lines. The buddy ticks the common lines. If a pharmacist is absent for a day, the owner names a stand-in before the joiner arrives. Whoever is free tends to teach a shortcut, and shortcuts fail at an inspection or a complaint.
The counter, line by line
- Reading the prescription. Dose, route, frequency and duration. The joiner reads aloud and the pharmacist confirms or corrects.
- Substitutes. Teach when a generic is offered, what must be told to the patient and what only the pharmacist may suggest.
- Near misses. Keep a small book where any slip, caught in time, is noted with no blame. The joiner writes the first one in week one.
- Patient privacy. No discussion of a customer's medicines in front of others. No photographs of prescriptions on a personal phone.
- Refusal. Teach how to say no to an expired prescription or a request for an item that needs one.
Store and rack: the unglamorous half
Expiry is the silent risk. Show the joiner how to scan the shelves each week for strips with a few months left, mark them with a coloured sticker and move them forward. Show the return-to-stockist routine with the credit note. Show how a damaged carton from a distributor is photographed before it is signed for. A new store hand who learns this in week one saves the shop more than a good sale.
Words to put on the wall in week one
- Strip, blister and vial. Packs are opened differently. Loose tablets from a cut strip need the batch and expiry written on the pouch.
- Schedule drug and narcotic register. Entries are made by the pharmacist, never by the helper, and the book is locked away.
- Cold chain. Insulin, vaccines and eye drops sit in the fridge. The door stays shut, the log is read twice a day.
- Batch and expiry. Two numbers on every pack. A complaint is traced by them.
- Chronic refill. A patient on monthly medicines for sugar or pressure, whose reminder call is part of the shop's service.
- Debit note and credit note. Papers that move short-dated or damaged goods back to the stockist.
- Ward indent and discharge kit. Hospital pharmacy words for stock issued to wards and packs for a patient leaving.
Billing and delivery
Billing desks handle MRP, discounts, schemes and returns. Limit rights at first. A new clerk should not alter rates or cancel bills alone. A delivery boy needs the address check, the cold pack, the payment rule and the rule on handing over medicines only to the named person. Cover these with the same care as the counter.
Variations by outlet
An independent pharmacy often has one pharmacist and one helper, so cover and breaks need attention. A chain adds a central price list, a software audit and a standard layout. A hospital pharmacy adds ward indents, discharge kits and a night duty rota. A surgical store adds sizes, fitting and trial of braces and walkers. See independent pharmacies and pharmacy chains for the roles. The method behind the sheet is in the employee onboarding process, and the sector view is on the pharmacies and medical retail page.
