Pharmacy Double Counting Prescriptions

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The “Problems to Problem Solving” that exist in this case are a closed mind, dealing with symptoms instead of the problem, vested interests, and the decision maker lacking all information required to solve the problem. Firstly, Smith made his decision with a closed mind because he assumed that if he were to publicly disclose the problem with the machines and the possibility of cross contamination having occurred that it would consequently have negative effects on both his reputation as well as the hospital’s reputation, and that he could lose funding for the hospital. Secondly, Smith was more concerned with the possibility of cross contamination having occurred and how that would affect him and the hospital than finding out how the cross contamination …show more content…

The more accurate inventory records ended up saving the pharmacy quite a bit of money since it reduced the incidences of unnecessarily ordering too many medications from suppliers. Thus, the small decision of double counting prescriptions made the pharmacy more cost efficient. The decision might have been handled differently so that the Manager may have been more aware of the impact by identifying and assessing the issue of excess inventory. If the Manager had been more aware of excess inventory, then she might have realized that the pharmacy was not being cost efficient. All medications have expiry dates and when the medications are near their expiry date, they need to be immediately removed from the shelf and disposed. She should have considered why so many medications were being …show more content…

The pharmacy assistant was experiencing severe stomach pains and asked the rest of the staff if she would able to leave early due to her worsening condition. Considering how she could barely stand, the pharmacist agreed that it would be best for her to go home. The only other staff present at that time was one pharmacy assistant and two pharmacists. One of the pharmacists was busy with travel consultations and injections, so only one pharmacy assistant and one pharmacist were actually able to attend to customers after the ill pharmacy assistant went home. What the staff did not realize that there would be a sudden influx of customers. While the pharmacist continued to take in new prescriptions and refills, the pharmacy assistant was dealing with customers coming in to pick up their prescriptions as well as customers calling in with questions and requests. As customers continued to come in for both ordering and pick ups, the wait time increased from fifteen minute to over forty minutes. The longer wait times resulted in frustrated customers and overwhelmed staff. Therefore, the major impact from sending one of the pharmacy assistants home was an overwhelmed pharmacy

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