A modern pharmacy is not limited to the sale of medicines. In the pharmaceutical business, tough competition reigns, and the winner is the company that was able to organize a high-level service, provide customers with additional services, and gain consumer loyalty with the help of discount programs and free expert consultations. The simplest and most affordable way of developing additional services in a pharmacy is to organize consumer consultations by phone.

It all starts with a very ordinary telephone set - it has been used in business processes for almost a hundred years, since the first commercial telephone conversation between London and New York took place on a transatlantic cable in 1927. Decades passed, the technique was improved, and today the pharmacy has several options for organizing consultations by phone.

First, decide on a phone number. It is good if it consists of the minimum number of digits in a convenient combination. A beautiful phone number is easy to remember by ear, it is a kind of indicator of the solidity of the organization. Placed on a business card, on a sign, on an advertising leaflet, on a packing bag, on a discount card, the number is striking and, having seen it several times, the buyer will definitely remember it. You can get a prestigious number when concluding an agreement with a local PBX or a commercial telecom operator.

Workplace phone number

If there are no constant queues at the pharmacy, it is enough to equip the pharmacist's workplace with a telephone set for consultations. Why is this needed? To win customer loyalty, of course! As often happens, having come home with a purchase, a person who is far from medicine forgets how to take the medicine correctly. And not everyone can independently figure out the annotation to the drug - after all, the information given there is intended primarily for specialists. The easiest way to solve the problem is to call the pharmacy and clarify the dosage regimen, a combination of several drugs.

Many shoppers visit several pharmacies and compare prices when purchasing prescription medications. Knowing the pharmacy phone number, you can find out the availability of the necessary medicine and its price, without wasting time visiting several pharmacies. Quite often, they ask on the phone about the opening hours of the pharmacy. The main thing is to remember: this service is important for buyers, and everything that you do to organize it is not done in vain!

The pharmacy employee's time is limited, and his main responsibility is still serving visitors who come to the pharmacy. On the phone, the chief executive will not be able to give detailed consultations - simply there will not be enough time, visitors in the queue will start to get nervous, rush the pharmacy employee, make fair comments and demand attention to themselves. In fact, this is a consultation "on the run" - an answer to 1-2 questions and a polite farewell to the caller.

Main topics of brief consultations

1. Opening hours of the pharmacy.
2. Availability of a medicinal product.
3. Medicines prices.
4. The drug is dispensed by prescription or is commercially available.
5. When, to whom and under what conditions discounts are provided.

It is not only the paramount who can answer calls briefly. Any employee, up to the cleaning lady, can tell about the working hours of the pharmacy, and the marketer, the head of the pharmacy, and the student-trainee can provide information on the availability of the drug and its price.

Dedicated phone counseling specialist

If an employee of the first desk cannot cope with the flow of calls without prejudice to the main work, it is worth considering expanding the staff of the pharmacy and inviting a specialist to communicate with clients on the phone. It can be not only a pharmacist or a pharmacist by education, but also a doctor - practice shows that the most popular among pharmacy clients are the consultations of a specialist doctor.

The doctor can advise the visitors of the pharmacy at certain hours both by phone and in person - such consultations have a great effect on sales, increasing the average purchase price significantly. A typical example is the consultation of a phlebologist in a pharmacy: he can not only examine a patient suffering from varicose veins, but also recommend correction pillows for night rest, choose compression hosiery, prescribe additional medications for admission in combination with the main therapy.

Often pharmacies, in order to save on wages, involve students of medical educational institutions - universities and colleges on the phone, as well as intern students during their internship. The employee's key skills on the phone: sociability, benevolence, competent speech, clear diction, the ability to build a conversation, the ability to listen to the customer, understand him and attract them to shop at this particular pharmacy. Naturally, the main requirement is knowledge in the field of pharmacology.

For a full-fledged work, a consultant "on the phone" will need a room - a separate office or a dedicated area in the trading floor, as well as a computer with access to information about the pharmacy's inventory and prices of available goods.

The main topics of detailed consultations

1. Selection of a non-prescription drug.
2. Clarification of the regimen of taking the drug.
3. Clarification and discussion of undesirable effects of admission.
4. Questions of replacing drugs with synonyms and analogues.
5. The combination of several drugs in the treatment of underlying and concomitant diseases.
6. Complaints about defective goods and other claims.
7. Ordering medicines from the warehouse of a wholesale company.

Sometimes the topic of the consultation affects not only the purchase and administration of medicines, but goes beyond the scope of pharmaceutical activities. It is important to clearly understand the main ethical principle of the work of any physician - do no harm! If the caller, listing the symptoms, requires a diagnosis and prescription of medications, it is not professional to follow his lead. It is your sacred duty to send the patient to the attending physician. The correct diagnosis can be made only after a full diagnosis and personal examination by a doctor, and help over the phone may not be life-saving, but destructive. The scope of a telephone consultation is somewhat expanded if it is provided by a specialist doctor - phlebologist, neuropathologist, ophthalmologist, etc.

Pharmacy-based hotline

If there are a lot of calls and patients complain that it is difficult to get through to your pharmacy, you should consider organizing a hotline at the pharmacy. This requires a multichannel phone or multichannel number - several people (depending on the technical equipment - from five to infinity) can dial it at the same time. None of them will hear a busy signal, and you will need additional staff to answer your calls.

The questions raised by the hotline are very varied. They may require a short answer or a detailed consultation, so it is impossible to predict the time spent by an employee on one telephone conversation. It is important to have enough resources to meet the need for consultation of all callers - this is equipment, personnel, and information support of operators. In fact, this is a full-fledged call-center, and it is not always rational and cost-effective to develop its activities on the basis of a pharmacy. For the organization and maintenance of the hotline, specialists outside the pharmacy can be involved.

When does a pharmacy need a hotline? First of all, during promotions to stimulate demand. It is impossible for chain pharmacies to actively develop without a hotline - most pharmacy chains use the capabilities of call-centers one hundred percent. It is important to ensure that all incoming calls are answered quickly - a potential buyer does not have to wait. An employee in a pharmacy or an operator in a call center should have as much information as possible on the activities of the pharmacy and be able to answer any question from the caller.

Currently, in the city of Moscow, there is a procedure for preferential drug provision for certain groups of the population entitled to benefits, approved by the Order of the Moscow Government dated 10.08.2005 No. 1506-RP "On the implementation of measures of social support for certain categories of citizens of the city of Moscow for the provision of drugs and medical products. appointments dispensed by prescriptions of doctors free of charge or with a 50% discount. "

The aforementioned decree approved: the List of population groups for outpatient treatment of which drugs and medical products are dispensed on prescriptions of doctors free of charge or with a 50% discount, and the List of categories of diseases, for outpatient treatment of which medicines and medical products are dispensed on prescriptions of doctors free of charge.

Federal Law of 17.07.1999 No. 178-FZ "On State Social Assistance" establishes the right to receive state social assistance in the form of a set of social services, which includes the provision, in accordance with the standards of medical care, with the necessary drugs for medical use on prescriptions for medicinal drugs, medical devices on prescriptions for medical devices, as well as specialized medical food products for disabled children, for certain categories of citizens specified in Articles 6.1 and 6.7 of the said Federal Law.

The provision of certain categories of citizens with medicines and medical products on prescriptions of doctors is carried out free of charge or with a 50% discount through pharmacy organizations (pharmacies of various forms of ownership and pharmacies located directly in medical organizations (outpatient clinics) in the administrative districts at the place of residence) ... The list of pharmacy organizations is approved by the Moscow City Health Department.

Pharmaceutical organizations that provide logistics services for the provision of drugs to certain categories of citizens on prescriptions from doctors for free or with a 50% discount in the city of Moscow:

• CJSC, CJSC, Zelenograd Administrative District of Moscow - LLC "TD" Pharm-Center "
• VAO, SVAO of Moscow - GBUZ of the city of Moscow "Center for drug supply of the Department of Health of the city of Moscow"
• South-Western Administrative District of Moscow - PJSC "Pharmimex"
• CAO, YuVAO, YuAO, ZAO, TNAO of Moscow - State Budgetary Healthcare Institution of the city of Moscow "Center for drug supply of the Moscow Department of Health".

Children from large families under the age of 18 are provided with medicines free of charge (these social support measures are provided to large families until the youngest child reaches the age of 16 (students in an educational institution implementing general education programs - up to 18 years) in accordance with the Law of the City of Moscow from 23.11.2005 № 60 "On social support for families with children in the city of Moscow."

Informationon the procedure for providing citizens with a package of social services

In accordance with clause 2 of Article 6.3 of the Federal Law of 17.07.1999 No. 178-FZ "On State Social Assistance" (as amended on 22.08.2004, 29.12.2004), the period for providing citizens with a set of social services is a calendar year.

In accordance with clause 1.11 of the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated December 29, 2004 No. 328 "On approval of the procedure for the provision of a set of social services to certain categories of citizens", an application to refuse a set of social services for the next year is submitted by a citizen to the territorial body of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation annually within a period of up to 1 October this year. Citizens have the right to revoke the submitted application for refusal to receive a set of social services (social services) for the next year before October 1 of the current year.

It is allowed to refuse to receive a set of social services in full, to refuse to receive a social service provided for in clause 1 of part 1 of article 6.2 of Federal Law No. 178-FZ dated July 17, 1999 (additional free assistance, including providing in the presence of medical indications, a voucher for sanatorium-resort treatment), and refusal to receive social services provided for in paragraph 2 of part 1 of article 6.2 of the Federal Law of July 17, 1999 No. 178-FZ (provision of free travel on suburban railway transport, as well as on intercity transport to the place of treatment and back).

Information on the production of pharmaceuticals from the world's leading brands

Official information on the localization of the production of drugs of leading world brands at the industrial sites of Russian pharmaceutical manufacturers is published on the Internet at the following sites: https://rosminzdrav.ru, https://rg.ru, http://pharmvestnik.ru, http: //remedium.ru, http://gmpnews.ru, http://imemo.ru.

Search for drugs withdrawn from circulation

Information on the seizure of drugs can be found in the service "Search for drugs withdrawn from circulation" posted on the website of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare. http://www.roszdravnadzor.ru/services/lssearch

Quality control of medicines

Information regarding the quality of medicines in civil circulation can be found on the website of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare in the section "Medicines / Quality Control of Medicines / Newsletters"

The rules of good pharmacy practice introduced in Russia presuppose the obligatory consultation of the buyer in the process of dispensing (selling) pharmaceutical goods.

The normative definition of the term "pharmaceutical consulting" is included in the conceptual apparatus of the Rules of Good Pharmacy Practice of Medicinal Products for Medical Use, approved by order of the Ministry of Health No. 647n dated 31.08.2016.

Pharmaceutical Consulting - access to information on the procedure for the use or use of pharmacy goods, including the rules of dispensing, methods of administration, dosage regimens, therapeutic action, contraindications, drug interactions while taking them with each other and (or) with food, rules for storing them in at home

Subparagraph "c" of clause 8 of Order No. 647n specifies the concept of pharmaceutical consulting, making it the responsibility of the head of the pharmacy organization to provide the consumer with information "on the procedure for the use or use of pharmacy goods, including the rules for dispensing, methods of administration, dosage regimens, therapeutic action, contraindications, drug interactions while being taken with each other and (or) with food, and the rules for storing them at home" .

Order of the Ministry of Health No. 403n dated July 11, 2017 "On Approving the Rules for Dispensing Medicines" specifies the requirements for counseling when dispensing medicines. According to clause 16 of the order, the pharmaceutical specialist must inform the buyer of the drug "about the regimen and doses of its administration, the rules of storage at home, about the interaction with other drugs." This short list should now be followed by pharmaceutical specialists.

The Order reiterates the consultation requirements. Pharmaceutical consulting is now an integral part of the functional job descriptions of a pharmaceutical worker, because the professional standard requires all pharmaceutical workers to have, incl. access to information and rules for the use of the drug.

The necessary information should be provided to the consumer, but if he does not want to listen, it is necessary warn about the need to read the instructions, the dosing regimen, and the storage of the drug at home in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations indicated on the packaging.

Order No. 647n also includes pharmaceutical consulting in the knowledge update program for newly hired pharmacists and pharmacists (clauses "c" clause 14) and refers it to the main production functions of pharmaceutical workers (clauses "b" clause 15). When drawing up job descriptions for pharmaceutical workers, this provision should be included in the "Responsibilities" section.

For the provision of pharmaceutical consulting services in a pharmacy, a special area may be allocated, including with the installation of seating (clause 53). In addition, when selling drugs, a pharmacy employee is prohibited from hiding information from the buyer about the availability of other drugs with similar INNs, as well as about the ratio of prices for these drugs (clause 54).

Pharmacy consultation area with seating

The pharmacy assortment includes not only medicines and medical products, but also other goods that can be dispensed by specialists without a pharmaceutical education. The legislation does not prohibit the hiring of consultants for their implementation who do not have the qualifications of a pharmacist or pharmacist; the decision on the expediency of such a personnel decision remains at the discretion of the management of pharmacies.

Goods other than drugs and medical devices usually play a secondary role in terms of profit. To implement them, no special training is required, the horizons and professional knowledge of the first-class leaders, of course, allow them to successfully cope with this function.

In the absence of pharmacy organizations in rural settlements, pharmaceutical counseling is carried out by medical personnel of outpatient clinics, feldsher-obstetric points, centers (departments) of general medical (family) practice, subject to the availability of appropriate training.

The duration of the consultation and the amount of information provided depends on the specific needs of the buyer, his educational and cultural level. Particular attention should be paid to the storage conditions of the dispensed drug at home, regardless of the presence or absence of appropriate warnings and inscriptions on the packaging or in the instructions for use. The consultation is carried out taking into account the dosage form, packaging features, air temperature at different times of the year, protection from sunlight, humidity, etc.

Pharmaceutical Consulting Requirements

1. Professionalism.
2. Security.
3. Efficiency.
4. Personal approach, accessibility to the patient.
5. Adequacy.
6. Rationality.
7. The need to mention a consultation with a doctor.
8. Use of an up-to-date regulatory framework.
9. Proposal for the purchase of the drug.

Key aspects of pharmaceutical consulting

1. Determine the need for special conditions for the release of medicinal products.
2. Indicate the need for prescription drug dispensing.
3. Determine the visitor's problem, ask clarifying questions.
4. Indicate the need for a mandatory visit to a specialist.
5. Clarify the specific characteristics of the patient (age, pregnancy, chronic illness, medication, etc.).
6. Name the pharmacotherapeutic group and the effect of the drug.
7. Offer drugs as an alternative and justify your suggestions.
8. Inform about the rules of admission, the course of therapy.
9. Inform about food and drug interactions.
10. Inform about the rules of storage at home.
11. Inform about side effects.

The regulation on the licensing of pharmaceutical activities, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1081, includes in the licensing requirements for pharmacy organizations the observance of the rules of good pharmacy practice (clauses "d", clause 5).

Clause 6 of this provision classifies non-compliance with this requirement as gross violations, qualified in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 14.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation and entailing:

• For persons engaged in entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity - a fine in the amount of 4 to 8 thousand rubles. or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days
• For officials - a fine from 5 to 10 thousand rubles.
• For legal entities - a fine from 100 to 200 thousand rubles. or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days.

Pharmaceutical consulting is carried out within the educational level of a pharmaceutical specialist and in no case should replace the recommendations of the attending physician. Violation of this principle may lead to inadvertent harm to the health of the visitor, which entails civil or criminal liability. The consequences depend on the degree of harm caused to health (light, medium or severe, established by a forensic medical examination), as well as on the circumstances of the offense.

The doctor is a pharmacist.

Pharmacology ("farmakon" - medicine and "logos" - teaching) is a science that studies the effect of drugs on the human and animal organism.

The first systematized information about pharmacology was found in ancient Egyptian papyri, records of Hippocrates and other philosophers. In the 16th century, the concept of drug dosage was streamlined. Modern pharmacology requires the pharmacist to know not only the general properties of the drug, but also the mechanisms of its action, pharmacokinetics (the science of the routes of administration, distribution and excretion of the drug from the body) and pharmacodynamics (the science of the types and mechanisms of action of the drug, its pharmacological effect).

A pharmacist is a specialist who studies drugs, the effects of drugs on the body, and searches for new drugs (which are used to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease).

The dominant activities of a pharmacist are:

"Development of new and improvement of existing drugs;
"Preparation of medicines (tablets, potions, powders, ointments, balms, etc.);
"Storage of medicines;
"Dispensing medicines in pharmacies to people and explaining the rules for taking them;
"Informing medical institutions and the population about the effect of certain drugs available for sale;
"Control over the quality and shelf life of medicines;
"Acceptance of prescriptions from the population in pharmacies and preparation of medicines according to them.

A pharmacist should be distinguished by such abilities and personal qualities as:

- well-developed long-term memory (the ability to store the necessary information in memory for a long time);
- excellent figurative memory (the ability to remember and reproduce taste, color, smell, and other parameters of substances);
- developed tactile and motor memory;
- sleight of hand;
- a penchant for analysis and mathematical ability;
- attentiveness, composure, accuracy, tact, high self-control.

In his work, the pharmacist strictly observes the rules for dispensing medicines, closely monitors the storage conditions of medicines.

Any weapon (including against disease) requires proper handling. All participants in the treatment process - the doctor, the pharmacist and, of course, the patient himself - should "skillfully" handle medicines. The pharmacist acts here as a mediator, physician assistant and patient advisor. The patient must strictly follow the instructions for the use of the medication, do not stop treatment without the knowledge of the doctor, and do not begin to be treated with some other drug. Violation of the dosage and rules of admission can adversely affect the state of health.

Only cooperation in this "union" of doctor, pharmacist and patient is the main condition for the safe and effective use of drugs with the greatest benefit for each individual patient.

At the moment, people from: Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Chita, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Penza, Yekaterinburg, Naberezhnye Chelny, Ryazan, Kaliningrad, Izhevsk, Tula, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Volgograd, Blagoveshchensk, Stavropol, Tambov, Yuzhno -Sakhalinsk, Kaluga, Kazan, Ufa, Ivanov, Chelyabinsk, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Samara, Nizhny Saratov, Novgorod, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Orenburg, Barnaul, Vladimir, Tyumen, Tomsk, Perm, Vladivostok, Belgorod, Cheboksar, Maghad, Mineralnye Vody , Maykop, Lipetsk, Nalchik, Ulan-Ude, Togliatti, Surgut, Khabarovsk, Tver, Petrozavodsk, Salekhard, Astrakhan, Kurgan, Orel, Omsk, Yaroslavl, Gorno-Altaysk, Murmansk ... as well as other large and small cities of the Russian Federation.