Have you ever charted the journey of a patient through your pharmacy? If not, perhaps you should. As pharmacists, we are great at looking out on the world and wanting to shape it to suit us, but what happens when you look in from the outside? How might your patients shape the service you provide to them?

Consider every entry point for patients, including dispensing, requests for OTC advice, consultation room services. How seamless is the patient’s journey? Do they benefit from the experience? A fast and convenient service might be what you think patients want, but if a customer requesting a P medicine is not asked about current medicines or provided with any advice on potential side effects, the experience might feel pretty poor to them, particularly if there was no warmth in the interaction. Overall, they might rate their experience (quality) as disappointing. 

The customer or patient journey is often referred to as the ‘moment of truth’ (MOT). In many industries, such as airlines, this experience is tracked closely, and barriers that deliver negative moments of truth are identified and worked on.  

Management consultant PWC, in a study of patients in the healthcare sector in 2012, found that:

• Six out of 10 negative experiences are more likely to be remembered for longer in the healthcare industry compared to other industries
• Staff attitude was cited as the main contributor to positive moments of truth by 70 per cent of healthcare consumers
• Personal experience is the top reason for choosing a healthcare provider
• Some 57 per cent of patients place a high value on the education they receive during a visit.

To improve the patient experience in your pharmacy, consider:

• How many engagement points are there with your patients? 
• What does the journey look like from your front door to the point of accessing a service, product and/or information? What barriers or factors reduce the quality of this journey? 
• How do your employees engage with patients requesting advice and/or products? 
• Do you feel that you offer a valued service?