No two pharmacies are alike.
While many pharmacies offer similar services 一 from filling prescriptions to administering vaccines and more 一 they each adapt to meet their own needs and reach their own goals.
Depending on your patient base, you may specialize in a particular service. It may be dispensing. It may be clinical care. It may be patient education, or like many pharmacies, it may be community outreach and advocacy.
No matter your specialty, your pharmacy is unique — and your pharmacy software should be, too.
By now, you probably know how to use the standard features in your software. However, if you’re looking to take patient care to the next level, turn your attention to custom features.
Custom features allow you to prioritize what’s important to your pharmacy and use your software accordingly.
Custom features can be configured in the software and used across many different tasks, on and off the screen.
However, a word of caution: Not every software vendor offers custom features, so proceed accordingly.
So, if you’re looking to improve your software experience and customize your system, consider trying out these five features.
1. Custom Workflow
A standard workflow can help your pharmacy get by, but a custom one can take you to new heights.
The best software systems enable you to customize your workflow so that you can dispense prescriptions and perform operations more efficiently.
With a custom workflow, you can add steps, remove steps, or make changes in the software to keep your dispensing process running smoothly.
This ensures you don’t have to take unnecessary steps and that the steps you do have to take are completed in a timely manner.
Some systems will even allow you to create reminders at certain stations to ensure that you never miss a step.
In other words, with a custom workflow, you can focus on what’s important and get rid of what isn’t.
2. Custom Tasks and To-Do Lists
Your pharmacy software should enable you to check off your to-do list — but what if you could create, assign, and manage those to-dos in the software itself?
Enter custom tasks and to-do lists. Some pharmacy software systems double as task management software, using to-do list features to keep you on track.
In these software systems, you can create, edit, and manage tasks — helping you remember what you need to do and when you need to do it.
In addition, some systems allow you to assign tasks to your staff and place them in specific stations in workflow.
This can help your team stay organized and keep you accountable for everything you need to accomplish.
3. Custom Reports
When you run your workflow with custom features, you need a reporting system that can track your performance in the same way.
Custom reports allow you to monitor your pharmacy’s operations, quantify your progress, and brainstorm ways that you can improve in the future.
Reporting is a key component of running a pharmacy, but custom reports help you go beyond the standard financial and operational reports and create measures that are entirely your own.
4. Custom Forms
Aside from running reports, you can collect valuable information about your pharmacy by creating and collecting custom forms.
Forms can be used for many purposes: creating prescription refill requests, managing administrative tasks, and getting feedback from both your patients and your team.
No matter how you use them, custom forms give you the tools to get specific information and record it in your software system. In the process, they can help you identify future tasks to complete and improvements to make.
5. Custom Prescription Information
All pharmacies should be able to customize prescriptions labels and information.
The best software systems help you to personalize measures like sig codes, patient and prescriber information, and other identifiers.
This can decrease the time it takes to dispense medications and increase the amount of time you have with your patients.
With these systems, you can easily input prescription information into your workflow and make sure that each patient gets the exact medications they need.
Conclusion
Almost all pharmacy software systems can keep your pharmacy afloat.
Only the top systems, though, enable you to do more: by offering custom features and helping you home in on your niche.
Custom features give you the ability to personalize your pharmacy workflow and show what makes you different from the competition.
If your software vendor doesn’t offer custom features, on the other hand, it may be time to make a switch to a new system.
Compare top software options, schedule a demo, and choose a system that gives you the ability to show off what makes your pharmacy special.
At the end of the day, that’s what customization is all about.
