How many times do you bring your registration certificate with you to the place you are locuming? How often of do you present your self smartly (for men – shirt and tie and ladies – smart dress)? How often have you had a good night sleep and have a good breakfast to set you up for the day?
A vast number of us have attended late night parties at some point in our lives and had a tendency to over indulge. Its great to let your hair down sometimes if this is your kind of thing. However would you do so if you had work the next day? More to the point if you did and you had a hangover would you attend work out of guilt of there being no pharmacist to cover the pharmacy, patients not getting their medicines and the risk of the pharmacy having to closed for at least part of the day. Perhaps you may decide not turn up because you don’t want patients to be at risk from you impaired performance.
I dealt with one locum who I was working along side with in a very busy pharmacy. Now he seemed as though he had over indulged the previous night and it seemed as though he was still be under the influence of alcohol. What was probably more frightening was when I learnt that he drove 40 miles to get to this pharmacy. I had a dilemma, shall I work with him or not. The pharmacy was very busy (about 500 items a day) and I had been asked to do MURs as well. It was only possible if I had double cover. The chances of finding a locum to replace this pharmacist at short notice were very slim. At the same time I did not want to report him in case he got struck off as I felt the whole reason for him turning up was out of guilt. The problem was easier for me if I thought of it from a patient’s perspective and by putting their needs first.
I decided to ask the locum to go home. I said that I was prepared for the consequences of working harder but I was not prepared to risk the lives of my patients. Professionalism has many facets. Professional knowledge is important for us to deliver our duties. Along side this, abiding to a code of conduct, law and ethics is equally important. Our image determines how patients and customers perceive us. A smart dress is important because it says to the public that you value how they should perceive you, it demonstrates your passion for your career and profession and most of all it determines how much value you place on yourself.
Displaying your credentials is so important. Of course, it is the law to display our registration certificate within our pharmacy and I certainly know that the most an inspector does is to verbally slap your wrist if you failed to do this. There is however a deeper seeded reason for displaying our certificate. If you come into a pharmacy and display a ‘tatty’ laminated certificate with stains on it (believe me I have seen this happen), you are probably doing more justice to yourself and your profession by not displaying it at all, or better still, not turning up to work. A prominently displayed and nicely framed certificate is an extension to your appearance. I bring my certificate in a protective case wherever I am doing a locum. It is remarkable how patients and staff who observe this treat me. The perception is of quality, passion, honour and knowledge.
