Lessons · Pharmacy · the order a prescription is filled in
The order a prescription is filled in
The steps of a fill run in a fixed order, and the order is what catches a problem while it is still cheap to catch.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Every step you take before checking the profile is a step you may have to undo. The allergy that stops a fill is on the screen before the bottle is pulled, and finding it after the label is on means a label with a patient's name on it in the bin and a phone call to make.
How to think about it
Learn it as a rule about when problems are found. Completeness is checked before anything is entered. The profile is checked before anything is counted. The stock label is compared before anything is labelled. And nothing at all leaves without the pharmacist's check.
Worked example
Completeness firstA script missing a strength or a quantity is stopped at the counter, not at the shelf.
The profile before the shelfAllergies and what the patient is already taking are on the screen, and they are free to look at.
The stock bottle against the script, before the label goes onReading them side by side is the cheapest check in the building.
The pharmacist's check, last and alwaysThe finished prescription, the stock bottle and the original script, together, in front of the pharmacist.
Your turn
Name the thing on the patient's profile that is checked before anything is counted.
check the profile for
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Printing the label before the stock bottle is in your hand. Once a label exists, the eye reads the label and then finds a bottle to match it, which is exactly backwards.