Activity

Assess your systems

Come into the pharmacy early one morning, when no-one else is there and there are no other distractions.

• Look critically at the dispensary with fresh eyes, as if you were reviewing someone else's dispensary.
• Identify the potential risks that might lead to a dispensing error.
• Record these in a risk register along with your assessment of the risks and the activities you will implement to reduce them.

Next, look at the SOPs folder you keep in your pharmacy.

• Is the folder up to date?
• Are all the team appropriately trained?
• Check that all your team are trained to undertake the duties they are delegated to do daily. Do they have their dispensing assistant or medicines counter assistant certificates? Has your ACPT had an annual reaccreditation?
• If team members are off track with their training, what actions will you put into place to minimise risk to patients?