The IPU Pharmacy Practice Working Group (PPWG) is a group of community pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and IPU staff with an interest in improving pharmacy. In this article, Jonathon Morrissey, community pharmacist and Chair of the IPU’s Community Pharmacy Committee (CPC), details how Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems, could improve members phone management.
We can all acknowledge that one of the greatest distractions within the dispensary is the sheer volume of phone calls. Pharmacy teams are faced with a barrage of calls on a daily basis from patients, GPs, hospitals, company representatives and the ever- increasing annoying cold calls. A large proportion of these calls are general queries requiring similar information to be shared and repeated numerous of times a day.
In the last couple of years, mainly in response to the pandemic, communications technology functionality has improved greatly. However, adopting new approaches can sometimes go to the bottom of the to-do list, particularly when things are already so busy, or we simply aren’t aware of their benefits. One such technology is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems. These systems offer a significant number of benefits compared to traditional phone line services, especially operational efficiencies in community pharmacies.
VoIP is a technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (analog) phone line. These systems can offer a number of benefits to your pharmacy as outlined below:
Cost saving: There are cost saving benefits to a VoIP phone system. Traditional phone lines often come with high monthly bills and/or line rental fees, in particular if more than one landline number is being used in the pharmacy. VoIP phone systems allows you to make and receive phone calls (and other voice-based services) over multiple devices to anywhere in the world with additional functionality (functionalities can differ dependent on service provider).
Flexibility: VoIP phone systems allow for multiple devices to be used at the same time within the pharmacy. This means while one or more devices are in use, calls can still be received or made on other available devices. Not only do VoIP phone systems allow for standard phone devices, but VoIP phone systems can also be connected to any device that has an internet connection such as smartphones regardless of your location.
Functionalities: Functionalities may slightly differ depending on the service provider and plan options. Features can include automated opening hours to your voicemail, call recording, SMS capability, and voicemail to email.
One useful function of value to community pharmacies is the ‘auto attendant’ function. For example, ‘press 1 for . . .’. This offers the benefit of directing customers to departments within the pharmacy, for example, the dispensary, OTC counter, front-of-shop or the office. This functionality is of further benefit to community pharmacies as it allows for pre-recorded information messages under call options created, for example, opening hours or services provided.
For example, during the busy vaccination season a pharmacy could have an auto attendant option for ‘vaccination’, which could then be split for each vaccination offered at the pharmacy. For each one, the pharmacy could record a short message informing the patient about the service, price (if applicable) and how to book. If the patient requires more information they can then be passed to an appropriate person in the pharmacy once the message has been listened to.
Other examples would be directing patients to order prescriptions through a pharmacy app or current information on high level shortages. See Figure 1 for an example of a pharmacy phone menu on a VoIP phone system.
Figure 1: Example Phone Menu
This functionality alone manages queries far more efficiently, giving this valuable time back to you and your team to focus on patient care.
VoIP phone systems can come with analytic and reporting capabilities. This information gives a pharmacy manager insight into call volume, wait times, missed calls and messages most listened to. This is valuable data to optimise pharmacy operations and manage patient queries.
Pharmacists’ time has never been so valuable, and community pharmacies stand to benefit greatly from adopting VoIP phone systems over traditional landlines. These systems offer significant cost and time savings, add flexibility and improve call efficiencies.
If you want to share your pharmacies efficiencies, or you have any tips to share, please contact linda.ahern@ipu.ie.
Jonathon Morrissey
Chair of IPU’s Community Pharmacy Committee and community pharmacist
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