Multiple priorities

Last updated: Sunday, September 25, 2022

Pharmacists are often busy. How do you deal with a problem when you already have too much to do?

Imagine you are in the dispensary. You’re the only pharmacist on duty and you can’t leave. 
It’s busy: there’s a complex prescription for a clinical trial medicine that you must check and there’s a research nurse waiting for it; a senior manager has walked in to talk to you about health and safety; there’s lots of outpatient prescriptions to check; a ward has just requested a compliance aid. In the middle of everything else that's going on, a doctor phones and says she needs advice from a pharmacist immediately. What do you do?


Have a think about the kind of strategies you might adopt to deal with this. Think of at least three things you could do. When you’ve had enough thinking time, click the icon for the next page below.