As the Responsible Pharmacist Manager at Alliance Boots, I was in charge of leading and managing a team to provide the best healthcare services to our customers. It was my duty to have regular conversations with my staff and manage their performance so that if done successfully, it would bring benefits to the business, to the team and the individual.
Unfortunately an error had been made by staff, I had to have a conversation with my assistant on his dishonesty regarding the sale of an incorrect prescription of medication. to the wrong customer. He did not confirm the patient’s address against the name. Since there was another patient with a similar name, the medication got switched but luckily there was no harm caused to the patient. However, the patient was extremely disappointed and I had to carry out an investigation. Being the Pharmacist in charge, I am responsible for all transactions that take place in the working environment even if it is not directly my fault.
I strongly believe that feedback is an essential ingredient if performance is to be maintained – let alone improved. Therefore, after dealing with the priority of ensuring that all harm was removed from the patient’s ways, I approached my assistant with humility and asked to have a private conversation. I actively listened and understood his point of view. I respected him enough to allow himself to explain why the error occurred in the first place and why he was dishonest about the entire transaction being his fault, when asked by another colleague. It was made clear that the dishonesty came from the fear of the consequences of his actions and the error occurred due to negligence. Firstly, I reminded him of the 7 Standards, Ethics and Performance principles that Pharmacists work by, some of which include; making patients our first concern, being honest and