Pharmacy

A streamlined chemist-patient interaction can ease a lot of burden from the physician, and also helps the less educated patient population. Using innovative sales techniques, companies spend 3 fortunes to get their drugs to the consumer, and it is time to utilize the chemist's counter by making it an efficient and innovative tool to aid the patient population.

The marketing manager and his team are always looking for ideal opportunities to make sure that their selling strategies get quickly converted into profits for the organization. Most of the rime the focus for promoting their products is limited to astounding doctors with in-clinic detailing by the Medical    Representatives (MRs), providing great literature and journals, seminars,      workshops and gifts.

Innovative   ideas   are applied mainly to impress physicians. The MR may dress like a commando or the manager may request the doctor to inaugurate a pack of new skin cream by cutting the ribbon. Free drug samples are given away to patients under the guise of 'medical camps.'

Companies also try to modernize the packaging and presentation of their products   to   magnetize patients who purchase these medicines. Schemes to maintain patient loyalty are publicized in drug packs. Somewhere in between the doctor and the patient, a huge marketing opportunity seems to be lost by most of the industry!

The prescription's voyage

Once the sales rep makes his pitch, it is the doctor who is the prime mover of pharmaceutical products. When a patient visits a clinic for treatment, the doctor chooses the appropriate drug to ameliorate the patient's symptoms.

The physician's prescription makes its journey to the local chemist where the attendant dispenses the drug.

To a general observer the entire scenario looks very simple: the chemist dispenses drugs, the patient consumes it as recommended and the patient is cured. However, in reality, the expedition from the clinic to the first chemist's shop could lead to varied situations before the patient actually consumes the drug.

Here are some possible scenarios that often take place after the prescription leaves the physician's cabin:

• The most ideal possibility is that the chemist precisely honours the prescription in toto

• The patient gets part of the drugs accurately,   whereas   some   are substituted with other brands

• The chemist is unable to understand the actual names of some medicines prescribed by the doctor and the

patient has to hunt for it elsewhere

• The patient, being not-so-literate, is given some other inexpensive alternative drug by the chemist. In this case, the patient is blissfully unaware   of   the   substitution.

This brings us to the primary point that in India just as the average patient trusts his doctor, he also has tremendous faith in the chemist. He assumes that the chemist would interpret the healer's scrawl accurately and also that the drugs prescribed would be available freely. The patient also believes that his chemist would dispense the drug correctly and substitutions made, if any, would be   legitimate   and   accurate. Obviously, if the drugs dispensed are perfect, the consequences are predictable. However, if the chemist oversteps his brief, the patient may have to pay a heavy price.

Chaos at chemist's counter

It is pertinent to note here that despite the statutory requirement to have a D. Pharm or B. Pharm, i.e., a qualified person employed in order to be eligible to run a chemist's shop, the ground reality is completely different.  Except in major cities of India where the food 6- Drug Administration may  visit  chemists for surprise inspections, most chemist shops in the country are run by local businessmen who employ school drofwuts to man the counters. Some of these staff can barely read a few words in English. St is like placing an auto rickshaw driver m a cockpit!

There are several reasons for the confusion across the chemist's counter.

• Doctors    sometimes    scribble prescriptions so casually that even a qualified chemist attendant may not be able to decipher it correctly. The brand written by the physician so closely resembles another drug that it becomes difficult for the clerk to avoid a mistake. For example, Dapsone and Depsonil. Doxy I and Droxyl

• Sometimes, the MR launches a new drug to the doctor but the local chemist is not provided the drug stock. Or the counter, attendant has not heard of the name and sends the patient back to the doctor for an alternative.

• A brand, which was in good circulation     suddenly     runs out of stock either due to a glitch in the manufacturing or distribution system. Alternatives are provided by the chemist, which may not be necessarily pharmacologically comparable.

• Identical packaging for different tablets or lotions, barring some difference in colour code, makes it difficult for the busy chemist boy to pick out the right one. According to a senior dermatologist from Mumbai, "Cetaphil moisturizing

lotion is often dispensed in place of Cetaphil   cleansing   lotion. Imagine the young lady's plight when she hurriedly tries to wash her face with plenty of water and the moisturizing lotion!" The   patient   returning to   the doctor’s cabin simply to clarify if the drug dispensed is correct or whether the substituted drug is legitimate     wastes     everybody's time- The physician too is interrupted in   his   interaction   with   the subsequent patient.

The vital 'space'

As they say every problem in life is an opportunity. Likewise, every confusing situation in the pharmaceutical distribution system is a marketing opportunity for the sales team. Considering the chaotic scenario recurring at busy chemist's counters, there is a major opportunity waiting for the pharma industry to capitalize on.

With a little effort, both MRs and their managers can streamline the chemist's dispensing process, educate chemist staff and help them distinguish between a variety of drugs, A brief outline of the activities that can be undertaken al the chemist's counter is enumerated as follows:

• One can take groups of boys working at chemist shops and teach them about the different components of   a   physician's   prescription, the pattern that doctors follow to write tablets, syrups, injections, their dosages, etc can be elaborated. Explain the significance of the work that they are carrying out and that a small error may have   grave   consequences   for somebody's health.

• Knowledge about brand extensions is lacking among chemists. There are instances where any brand extension is dispensed in lien of the main brand; thinking that the   two   are   identical Chemists'   attendants   can   be taught about these differences a simple terms.

• Engage     qualified     chemists by providing higher levels of knowledge     about     different pharmaceutical products

• MRs could procure and carry similar brands of other companies and explain the differences in its appearance etc

• The staff could be shown confusing brands at the counter 'to light up their eyes' and avoid any mishaps

• Make calendars, bumper stickers, 'flyers' with important information like emergency telephone numbers on  the  back  and  distribute to chemists

• Provide        incentives        or complimentaries to chemist staff It is significant to understand that a    streamlined    chemist-patient interaction saves a lot of trouble to the physician too. The physician will be inundated with fewer phone calls regarding substituted drugs and dispensing errors. Efforts such as the above will minimize slip- ups   and   consequently would          safeguard the patient's health.

CSR opportunity

All of us have come across salesmen at the Nokia, Vodafone or Shoppers Stop counter rattling off the virtues of the products at their stalls. If the staff at a chemist's counter is trained to perform at that level of efficiency, the less educated patient will be in a better frame of mind after procuring his medicines.

An educated, qualified and proactive counter clerk at a chemists' shop will take a lot of stress away from the less educated mass of patients. It will also improve the standards of health in the country. Pharma companies taking up such initiative would not only be improving their bottom lines but also would be performing a social duty.

Multinational pharmaceutical giants need not look for old age homes and such other 'distant' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in order to gain tax exemptions and earn brownie points. Use the nearest chemist's shop and watch your drug sales soar!