What is Safe Staffing?

What is Safe Staffing? 

Safe staffing ensures that your pharmacy is operating at the level it needs to optimize patient wellbeing. Mistakes can occur for many reasons in pharmacies, and having safe staffing models and protocols helps avoid them.  No matter which approach you take, the safety of your patients is the number one priority.

What are the Five Staffing Models?

As you begin the staffing process for your pharmacy, you may realize there are multiple approaches. Experts have identified five primary staffing models. These consist of:

• Staffing Quantity Model: This model compares projected staffing requirements with projected staffing availabilities and then determines staffing level positions (fully staffed, understaffed, or overstaffed).

• Staffing Quality – Person/Job Match Model: This model matches a person with the right knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics to the job with the appropriate requirements and rewards.

• Staffing Quality – Person/Organization Match Model: This is a broader matching of a person to the organization as a whole. Instead of job-specific abilities, people are looked at as a fit with the business, including having desirable attitudes and behaviors. These employees can often switch jobs and duties in the future and are flexible and versatile with their skill set.

• Staffing System Components Model: In this model, there is an interactive process between the applicant and the organization. The process follows an organized line of steps:

• Planning, in which initial needs are determined and data is analyzed.

• Recruitment, where organizations seek applicants and candidates respond to offers.

• Selection, or when an organization assesses the skills and abilities of viable candidates.

• Decision Making, in which a person is chosen, the specific job is detailed, and employment terms are set.

• Job Offer, where the organization formally extends the offer of employment.

• Retention, in which the organization creates a positive, rewarding work environment, and the employee continues to develop professionally and adhere to all company goals and safety standards.

• Staffing Organizations Model: This model ensures that the organizational mission and goals influence HR and staffing strategy. In this version, it is critical that core staffing activity is paired with organizational strategy. Strategies in this model consist of core staffing activities, such as recruitment, selection, employment, and support activities that go along with these.

Certified Pharmacy Technician Continuing Education

As part of the safe staffing models, certified pharmacy technicians and other staff should continue to grow and learn best practices. They should continually take continuing education courses and stay abreast of the latest trends for patient safety.

Guidance to Ensure a Safe and Effective Pharmacy Team

As you build your pharmacy team, there are crucial checkpoints and benchmarks to ensure that you are prioritizing a safe workplace. There are many moving parts to guarantee this safety, such as:

• Leadership and Management Functions: No matter which staffing model you use, leadership teams need to follow the organizational vision and goals when they hire. Once candidates are selected, the emphasis should be on retaining employees, creating a long-term workforce and culture.

• Knowledge, Skills, and Competence: Depending on whether you match people with the specific job or with the organization, you should determine the particular skill they offer. They need to be trained and certified, with extensive knowledge of pharmacology and safe practices.

• Setting Staffing Levels: Safe staffing is a balance between creating an efficient, productive environment and appropriate staff levels. Finding the fully staffed benchmark (instead of under or over-staffed) is ideal for productivity and safety.

• Testing: Potential employees for your pharmacy need to demonstrate cognitive abilities through standardized assessments. Many basic skills tests exist that measure and reflect candidates’ understanding of pharmacy-specific roles.

•Background Check: By running a thorough background check on potential hires, you can identify negative patterns that may affect your hiring decision.

Our Pharmacy Placement Services – Let Our Team Help Yours

At RPh on the Go, we know how critical safe staffing is. Our pharmacy placement services involve a thorough, extensive approval process for candidates: meaning you only get the best the industry has to offer.

Our method begins with a comprehensive interview, revealing the character, talents, and potential of candidates. To ensure safe staffing, we conduct 7-year medical and background checks. And we don’t stop there. After we place a vetted candidate on your team, we continue to monitor them for consistent quality and adherence to safety. No matter the demands your pharmacy faces, RPh on the Go has the solution you need.