Chapter 5

Designing Pharmacy
Services

Chapter 5 slides for

Marketing
for Pharmacists,
2nd Edition
 Approaches to Design and
Management of Services

1)Production line approach

2)Empowerment approach
‫ا لتمكين‬
 Production line
Top-down design

Standardize,
simplify,
clear division of labor,
substitute technology for employees,
minimize independent decisions by
employees,
use employees as interchangeable parts

Increase efficiency & speed; lower

cost/unit
 Empowerment

Bottom-up design

Give employees power, flexibility, &

responsibility in their jobs.

Give discretion & tools with minimal

policies & rules.
 Empowerment
Benefits Costs
 Adaptable  Harder to manage
 Spontaneous  more expensive
 Ability to cope  Potentially more bad
decisions
 Better approach depends on
Basic business strategy

Nature of transaction

Need of patients

Type of employees & managers

Planning for Service
Performance

TIP
Good service comes from
good planning.
 Service script

 Describes a service performance in a

written list of actions
Service Script Example
 Service scripts

 Establish expected actions & responsibilities

 Standardize procedures
 Are based upon best methods available
 Can be used for both production line &
empowerment approaches
 Indian Health Service
counseling guidelines

1. What did the doctor tell you the

medicine is for?

2. How did the doctor tell you to take the

medicine?

3. What did the doctor tell you to expect?

 Examples of script situations
 Dispensing error
 Situation that requires a
physician to change a
prescribed therapy
 Non-formulary
prescription
 Prior authorization
 Nursing administration
error
 Patient complaint about
the price of a
prescription
 Hostile customer
 Drug incompatibility
(e.g., intravenous)
 Physician prescribing
error
 Drug allergy
 Drug interaction
 Service mistake
(e.g.,overcharge)
 Negotiation with
co-workers
 Difficult counseling
situation
 Patient with renal/hepatic
insufficiency
 Service recovery
(example of a script)

 Mistakes are inevitable.

 Mistakes present an opportunity to save or
even strengthen a relationship with a
customer.
 Dissatisfied customers will tell between 9-16 people
about a poor service experience.
 Repurchase intentions increase from 19-54% when
complaints are satisfactorily addressed.
 Steps to service recovery
1) Search out potential for service
failures & dissatisfaction.

2)If a failure occurs

1) Apologize.
2) Offer a remedy.
3) Solve the problem immediately.
4) If possible or necessary, offer
compensation to customers for their
trouble.
 Service blueprints
 Service blueprints are flowcharts used to
design service operations.
 They are maps of service processes that permit
pharmacists to better see & understand them.
 They simultaneously depict the process,
customer roles, service providers, &
supporting services.
 They break down the service into components
& arrange them according to their purpose.
 Pharmacy Employee Waiting Area Appearance Drug Information

Evidence
Physical Exterior Dress Patient Information of Rx Labels Insert
Parking Non-prescription Brochures Appearance of
Appearance Merchandising Signs Drug
of Non-pharmacy Bill
Departments
Customer
Actions

Picks Up Is Counseled
Arrive at Gives Prescription (Rx) Fills Out
& Pays for Rx About Rx
Pharmacy to Pharmacy Employee Patient Profile

Line of Interaction
Receives & Profile Reviewed Presents Bill
Counsels
Checks Rx (RPh) for Rx and
(Onstage)

Patient
Greets (RPh/Tech) Merchandise
(RPh)
Customer (RPh/Tech)
Contact Employee

(RPh/Tech)
Clarification Needed?

Yes No
Line of Visibility
Computer Fill Rx Check Rx
(Backstage)

Entry (Tech) (Tech) (RPh)

Calls MD’s
Office(RPh)
Drug Interaction or Ok’d byRPh
DUR Notification?

Line of Internal Interaction Do not fill

Insurance DUR
Invisible

Clarification or Change
Process

Notification
Made with Rx

Service Blueprint for Dispensing Services

 Blueprint advantages

 Includes patient view

 Makes process visually explicit
 Permits cost-benefit trade-offs
 Service audit
 Systematic, critical review of the way
services are marketed by organizations