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By now, you should know that patient care goes beyond prescriptions or vaccines. Sometimes, it goes beyond your pharmacy counter. Health journeys know no bounds — and neither should your pharmacy.
Wellness events and vaccine clinics are a superb example of this. They are a tried and tested way to improve your patients’ overall health. An added bonus is they can bring your community together. If you’re wondering how, you’ve come to the right place.
Here’s why wellness events and vaccine clinics are an indispensable part of your pharmacy’s operations.
Let’s turn off our healthcare professional brains (for now) and focus on the “community” side of community pharmacy. Wellness events and vaccine clinics are a phenomenal way to strengthen your patient base.
These kinds of events let you care for your patients beyond filling a prescription. Pharmacy work often runs at a hectic pace, while wellness events and vaccine clinics operate at a steadier tempo.
Take advantage of the more “relaxed” atmosphere by striking a conversation with your patient. Remember to talk to your patients whether you’re giving them their annual flu shot, checking their blood pressure levels, or simply giving them a goody bag (goody bags are a must).
Masters of small talk will flourish here. You can talk about anything from the weather to last night’s game (hopefully there was a game last night) or even the universal truth that rush hour traffic is the worst.
It’s also a superb way for your patients to ask you questions. Maybe they need recommendations for back pain or seasonal allergies. A simple “Have you tried [medication name] yet?” should do the trick. You can even direct your patient to the OTC aisle if you’re close to your pharmacy.
Communication is an essential element of your pharmacy’s success. Some small talk and medication recommendations can go a long way in strengthening your patient base.
The more services your pharmacy provides, the more you can make a difference in your patients’ health journeys. Sometimes pharmacy work can be too hectic to have a proper, comprehensive patient consultation.
While wellness events and vaccine clinics aren’t less busy per se, they can give you and your patient time to talk about their health.
Example: you’re giving your patient a flu shot and know that their arm will feel sore for the next day or two. Recommend they take an anti-inflammatory so they can go about their day unencumbered. (tip: suggest your patient get vaccinated on their dominant arm. The more they move their arm, the quicker the soreness goes away).
This goes beyond a brief consultation, too. If your patient is over the age of 50, ask them about getting a shingles vaccine. If their blood pressure or glucose readings are high, ask them about their health journey, from stress levels to dietary habits.
The more you get to know your patients, the more comfortable they become with your pharmacy, and the more likely they’ll come to your pharmacy.
Another way that wellness events and vaccine clinics can enhance your pharmacy operations is they can strengthen your relationships with fellow healthcare professionals, namely physicians.
The relationship between physicians and pharmacists can sometimes be overlooked. However, a strong physician-pharmacist relationship can do wonders for both parties.
To get started, contact the physicians in your community or those from whom you often receive prescriptions (a pharmacy software system like PioneerRx makes this quick and easy).
Let them know you are holding a wellness event or vaccine clinic so they can tell their patients. More potential patients mean a bigger and even stronger patient base. Furthermore, that strengthens your pharmacy’s relationship with physicians.
Before you know it, your pharmacy will be the first one physicians or patients think of when making or dropping off a prescription. All it takes is some good old-fashioned communication.
As we’ve established, wellness events and vaccine clinics operate at a different pace than normal pharmacy work. More emphasis is placed on patient communication, vaccine dispensing, and record keeping. Soon enough, that pace isn’t so slow anymore.
Wellness events and vaccine clinics have their own hectic pace after a while. Chances are you’re holding a wellness event away from your pharmacy, meaning you’re away from your computer.
There’s no need to worry if you have pharmacy software like PioneerRx. Your pharmacy can give up to thousands of vaccines within a single wellness event or vaccine clinic and the idea of processing all of them can feel like climbing Mount Everest.
Luckily, features like the Patient Bulk process let your pharmacy process multiple vaccines (we’re talking hundreds) at once so you don’t get bogged down. This opens up even more time to focus on the task at hand in your pharmacy.
This is just one example of how your pharmacy software should enhance your pharmacy’s workflow. Your software should also help boost your pharmacy’s profits. For more on that check out our blog, “7 PioneerRx Features to Grow Your Pharmacy’s Profitability.”
It’s no secret that wellness events and vaccine clinics are a healthcare and profit goldmine for your pharmacy. The benefits, as you likely know, are two-fold: your patient base grows while your patients’ health journeys take new and prosperous paths.
Whether you’re strengthening physician or patient relationships or promoting greater health (with the help of your pharmacy software, of course), wellness events and vaccine clinics are an absolute must for your pharmacy.
Your pharmacy, patients, and overall community will be all the better for it. All you need to do is start.
