Community Pharmacy Sales Assistants
Assist customers in the sale of medicines, health items, pharmaceutical goods and access to medical services in community pharmacies.
Flu season at the pharmacy counter
You are a community pharmacy sales assistant during the winter, with the shop full, the dispensary busy and the pharmacist tied up with a consultation. It is 11:15am on a Monday in July. The queue reaches the door, three scripts have just been handed in, and the pharmacist has asked not to be interrupted unless it is important.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I have a terrible cold. I take tablets for my blood pressure and something else for my stomach. I just want the strongest cold tablet on the shelf. Which one should I take? I do not want to wait for the pharmacist.
Choose one for him based on what looks safest and sell it
You are not trained to advise on combining medicines. Some products affect blood pressure, and it is not your call to make on his behalf.
Explain that you need the pharmacist for this, and get him seen as soon as possible
The pharmacist steps out for a minute and picks the right product. Mr Hassan waits briefly and leaves well advised.
Tell him to read the box and check with his doctor, then sell him whichever he picks
Sending him to his doctor is sensible, but selling him something while he is unsure leaves the question unanswered. The pharmacist was just across the room.
I am after three boxes of the cold tablets kept behind the counter. My family all have colds. I was in yesterday and bought some too. Can you just put them through quietly so the pharmacist does not need to be involved?
Put them through, because he is polite and it is only a cold
Those products are limited by law because they can be misused. You have bypassed a check that is there for good reason, and the pharmacist is not impressed.
Tell him you cannot sell it without the pharmacist and ask him to wait politely
You did the right thing, and Mr Dunn waits. But a line of customers watched, and a quiet word on why might have kept him from feeling accused.
Say the pharmacist needs to see this one, and take him to her kindly
The pharmacist asks a few questions and handles the sale properly. Mr Dunn is not made to feel accused, and the safety check has been done.
Is this the right bottle for my baby? The label has a number on it, but I am not sure it is right for her age. She is ten months old. I did not want to worry anyone, but I just do not know.
Tell her it looks fine and ring it up so she can go home
You have given reassurance you were not qualified to give, about a baby. If the product is wrong, the harm is yours to carry.
Show Mei where the pharmacist is and tell the pharmacist what she asked, so she does not have to repeat it
The pharmacist can answer her properly. It is the right step, but Mei was left standing with a baby for longer than needed.
Take her straight to the pharmacist and pass on her question
The pharmacist checks the age on the product and suggests the right one. Mei leaves thankful that nobody made her feel silly for asking.
How it went
By lunchtime the queue was gone and three customers had been passed to the pharmacist at the right moment. Pharmacy assistants sell and serve, but the best ones know when a question is not theirs to answer. Does knowing your limits sound like a strength to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: Mrs Kowalski and the two boxes
A fictional case set in a fictional community pharmacy on a suburban shopping strip, with a pharmacist behind the dispensary.
The situation
Ewa worked the front counter of a community pharmacy. An elderly customer, Mrs Kowalski, came in to buy a cold and flu product from the shelf. She seemed unsure and said she had already been taking something from a different box at home, and could not quite remember which one. Ewa's training meant she could sell the product, and the queue behind Mrs Kowalski was getting long. But the confusion on the customer's face stopped Ewa from ringing it up.
What they did
Ewa said she wanted the pharmacist to have a quick word first, which was her usual practice when someone was unsure about what they were already taking. She walked Mrs Kowalski over to the pharmacist and quietly explained what she had heard. The pharmacist asked Mrs Kowalski to bring in the box from home, and checked it against what she was thinking of buying. Ewa stayed with her until the check was done.
How it turned out
Mrs Kowalski did not need to buy the new product, as the one at home was the same thing. She went home with her money and her confidence, and the pharmacist thanked Ewa for passing her on at the right moment. Ewa became the person new staff watched for how to pass on a question.
What would you do?
- Why did Ewa not simply make the sale?
- What is the difference between helping a customer and giving health advice?
- How would you feel working in a place where careful asking is part of the job?