Assignment Patient Care Pharmacy The Patient Care Pharmacy is one of the leading private owned company having a turnover of 10 million rupees in the year 2017. The total number of employees in the pharmacy is 150 and most of them have completed 20-25 years’ service in the pharmacy. The following products are included within the pharmacy in addition to selling of latest drugs for patients. Those are; • Continuing Educations on Prescriptions • Guidance on use of Drugs • Assistance of channeling of specialists • Continuing education The key customer group that the pharmacy provides services to include the senior population housed within the extended and long-term care environments. Customers fully depend on the services of the pharmacy to fulfil their needs and wants in the medical area. Because of the high risk factor of its business, these needs require that the right drug be delivered to the right patient at the right time. Also depending on the customer type, specific delivery requirements may be implemented to better serve the end user. Pharmacy’s dedication and commitment to continuous improvement is evident throughout its internal and external operations. By reflecting on the principles needed to attain quality success across all levels of customers, pharmacy adopted the Quality Policy statement given below; QUALITY POLICY Services and Products that meet or exceed both our internal and external customer expectations leading to complete customer satisfaction resulting in people working together to enhance the lives of those served. Since the Pharmacy has employees with different expertise in the medical area, at times, multifaceted work teams are formed through cross-functional approaches to complete the task(s) at hand. The Pharmacy is providing 24 hours round the clock service, 365 days a year is supported by an integrated IT system with web enabling customer service application called Track-it to report specific information on customer issues for companywide resolution. Moreover, all activities of the pharmacy are handled through this system. Pharmacy noted that advantages of e-commerce of service include quicker customer service response time for all areas of service including placing the order, pharmacist’s review, delivery, and billing of the product. Pharmacy faces key strategic challenges from the rapidly evolving financial structure of health care, a shortage of licensed pharmacists, the evolution of medical practice, and employee retention at all levels. These as well as future challenges are always balanced with the responsibility to the stakeholders.

1. How might the various definitions of quality apply to the Patient Care Pharmacy

2. How are the principles of total quality reflected in Patient Care Pharmacy’s Quality Policy and its operations?

3. Given the nature of Patient Care Pharmacy’s and the challenges it faces, discuss how a total quality approach can help the company meet the challenges and improve its ability to provide the services its customers need.