Manage Staff Scheduling for Pharmacy Vaccinations With Ease

September 1, 2021

Retail pharmacies now administer about a third of the total flu vaccinations in the U.S. As a front-line community care provider coupled with the continuing impact of COVID-19, it’s expected that pharmacies will face an even bigger patient demand for vaccines and other point-of-care testing this flu season.

To say that pharmacies are overwhelmed with all of the recent changes is an understatement, but they continue to lead the way seemingly unfettered. In response, the US Department of Health and Human Services has passed several regulations, including one allowing qualified technicians to receive training to become certified to immunize patients under the supervision of a pharmacist. As pharmacies continue to adapt and grow into their expected role in the community, streamlining staff scheduling is becoming more of a focus.

With the increase in patient demands, higher point-of-care expectations, and a growing staff, something’s got to give. Implementing and adapting to a new staff scheduling software solution might seem like an unattainable feat-but you need a better way to manage your pharmacy staff schedule. Not all software solutions are created equal. You need the right balance of scalability, configurability, and features you need without sacrificing time and resources to get you there. You need a robust, easy to implement system that works well with the unique staff scheduling challenges pharmacists face. Schedule360 has keyed in on the common pain points you face to develop a software solution you’ll be excited to implement right away.

Automate Tasks

Administering vaccines during the busy fall flu season while juggling normal daily tasks can be overwhelming. Therefore, it’s so important to choose a pharmacy scheduling software that automates and streamlines the process for you. With staff scheduling software, you can easily schedule staff based on vaccine availability and community demand with ease without sacrificing valuable time and resources.

Schedule Smart

Schedule smarter with pharmacy scheduling software. Quickly determine staff placement based on employee credentials and skills with credential tracking. Improve efficiency by ensuring that every shift is filled with staff holding the proper qualifications to perform the job. Licensure and certifications are conveniently stored in employee profiles and alerts are automatically sent to employees 60 days prior to expiration.

Assess your Space

Assess your space vs. demand to determine if you should host an off-site clinic. If you decide to host an off-site clinic, carefully determine your staffing needs. In addition to having enough space to give the vaccinations, you need room for intake, waiting and observing, as each patient requires at least 15 minutes of observation for anaphylactic shock after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Many vaccination sites have a designated observation area where they provide refreshments and seating, so ask yourself if you have the room for this. Utilize observation time to introduce service-based offerings and education while they wait. Do you have someone who can oversee and conduct? With configurable staff scheduling features, you’ll be able to create, manage, and oversee on and off-site schedules, forecast demands, and allocate your resources with ease.

Create a Reporting Process

Utilize your pharmacy scheduling software to complete all the required reporting at the end of each shift with a uniformed approach. Schedule360 streamlines your scheduling process with the data and integrations needed to make your scheduling and reporting process simpler. Schedule360 software provides integrated real-time reports allowing one-click management of employee compliance to work targets and enables rapid schedule management. Reporting API data seamlessly integrates the information you need for reporting. Incorporate data from Schedule360 or input your employee data from another platform.

Schedule Transparency

As a robust, cloud-based scheduling program, Schedule360 provides employees with complete access to their schedules 24/7 from any mobile device with internet. Transparency in scheduling reduces the instances of missed shifts, which is especially important during busy times like the fall flu season. Pharmacy software eliminates schedule confusion, gaps in coverage, and frees up schedulers allowing them to direct their resources more effectively. Easily schedule and coordinate multiple staffing regions or groups within large enterprises, no matter the location. Our scheduling software provides a broad overview of your entire staff and minimizes the occurrence of double-booking of staff at multiple sites, events, and locations all while meeting the daily demands your patients have come to trust and count on.

Optimize Staff

Schedule360 provides transparent reporting for pharmacy management that includes weekly schedules with employee target hours. This feature allows schedulers to optimize available staff first, and fill-in available shifts with non-optimized staff before creating overtime for staff who already met their targeted hours. Plus, our pharmacy scheduling software allows you to track target work hours and OT thresholds.

Are You Ready?

While retail pharmacies have risen to the challenges of the pandemic, the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine has also presented some additional logistical and operational challenges. Pharmacies are faced with an increased patient demand, in addition to their normal pharmacy workload. Schedule360 understands the tremendous pressure that pharmacists and their staff are under today, and we’re here to help. There’s no need to go it alone when we have the technology, tools, and experience you need to manage your scheduling process with ease. Contact us today for a configured demo of our award-winning pharmacy staff scheduling software.