First Day at Polyclinic: Operational & Sustainability Flaws
There has been a lack of update as I have adventured out of pharmacy practice for a while despite still doing pharmacist locum work. This week I started my new job at a Polyclinic and here are a few observations I’ve gathered so far regarding their work processes. Environmental Concerns Excessive Ziplock Bag Usage: The polyclinic goes through a massive quantity of medium to A4-sized Ziplock bags every day. If a patient requires 10 different medications that come in quantities of two packs or more, each medication SKU is consolidated into its own Ziplock bag—resulting in 10 plastic bags for a single prescription. While using bags makes sense for hard-to-bundle items like lactulose syrup bottles, I don't see why boxed medications can't simply be bundled with rubber bands instead. (Side Fact: Did you know that clean plastic bags, Ziplock bags, and bubble wrap are recyclable and can be placed directly into blue recycling bins?) Paper Notifications: When a medication changes brand...
