Category: Locum Life

5 minutes with: a pharmacy student

Posted on | by Niamh Foley

A Q&A with pharmacy student, Ella Shearing 

We recently caught up with fourth year pharmacy student, Ella Shearing, to find out what life’s like, some of the challenges pharmacy students are facing now, and what’s next. 

 

Where are you studying pharmacy?

I go to Sydney Uni but in lockdown, I came back to my hometown of Dubbo. I came for a holiday and now I’ve been here since winter! 

I’m in my fourth year of pharmacy so I’ve just finished, and then I’m starting my internship year next year, which you need to become registered as a pharmacist. That needs to be done with a community pharmacy or hospital pharmacy, so I managed to get a job at a hospital pharmacy department in Canterbury Hospital. I’ve been applying since July and only just got that, so that whole process was quite difficult.

 

How did you find out about Locumate? 

I went to a PSA information night for pharmacists and pharmacy students. Kavi (Locumate’s co-founder) spoke about Locumate and it seemed really interesting. I reached out to her on LinkedIn and it’s really early days but I’ll be part of the Locumate team! 

 

What sparked your interest in Locumate? 

I think Kavi talked about how she’s been in the community for so long. I’ve been working in pharmacy since I was 12, so I related to her growing up in that environment for quite some time. Locumate seemed quite different and a different way to use your pharmacy degree. I’ve been branching out into hospital pharmacy and other things and just finding my place.

 

You’ve been in pharmacy since you were 12?!

My dad’s a pharmacist, so I grew up around the dispensary, just emptying the bins, then eventually doing much more in the business.

 

Did your family pharmacy use locums?

Yes, we did. A lot of the time, Dad would be the only pharmacist, so we’d often have to get locums in. We found that not many people want to live and work and move to the country. But, the few people we’ve had have stayed two to four years beyond their initial internship. We’ve had lots of experience with locums and it’s difficult trying to find the right one so that’s always been a problem for us. I’ve spoken to Dad about Locumate and really think they’d benefit from it. 

 

What’s the biggest challenge for pharmacy students right now?

Aside from COVID and online learning, for my year, it’s definitely finding a position and finding a job. Lots of people want to complete their internship but it’s difficult to find the right fit for you. And I know that being on the opposite side of that, finding the right intern to be a fit for a pharmacy is hard. So both sides of the party are struggling. 

 

Once you’ve graduated, would you do locum work?

Yeah, I’ve thought about it a lot, I think it’s a good opportunity to travel and get to know different areas and get exposed to different pharmacy environments and have that experience.

 

If you could be a locum pharmacist anywhere, where would you go? 

I’d love to go somewhere on the coast. Somewhere near the beach! 

Refresh your dispensing skills with Fred

Posted on | by Surge Singh

Fred IT Group is Australia’s largest dedicated IT solution provider to the pharmacy industry with over 3,000 pharmacies using our dispensing solutions Fred Dispense Plus, Fred Dispense and Fred NXT Dispense. Fred offer a complete suite of solutions and services tailored for community pharmacy and enterprise pharmacy groups including POS and office management, hardware, server and network monitoring and maintenance, backup and recovery, and cyber protection.

 

Fred’s online help centres provide short tutorials and resources, shortcuts and tips, accessible anywhere, anytime, and on any device. If you are looking to extend your product knowledge of the Fred dispensing solutions or perhaps want to make your day to day duties more efficient – this is just for you!

Learn how to

  • Dispense paper and electronic prescriptions
  • Dispense a new script and defer a script
  • Update external Safety Net totals and link family members
  • Complete the End of Year process

 

Got a question about a Fred application? Find answers quickly and easily, online

 

Our Fred’s online help centres can provide answers to your questions about Fred solutions 24/7.

Visit fred.com.au/support

How Locumate Works

Posted on | by Surge Singh

Whether you’re a pharmacy looking for staff or a locum wanting work, Locumate is Australia’s number one locum marketplace. You will want to know how Locumate works. We’re transforming the locum recruitment experience by offering a smarter way for pharmacies and locums to connect. Visit the AppStore or Google Playstore to download Locumate.

Here’s how it works:

Pharmacies:

  • Create a free account and answer a number of quick questions about your pharmacy, e.g. number of scripts being dispensed, what software you use, and whether you provide pharmacotherapy.
  • Create a new job whenever you need a locum. All your details are saved so you don’t need to enter your pharmacy information each time.
  • Once a locum accepts a shift, view their profile and communicate directly for a smooth arrival and transition to the job.
  • Know exactly how much a locum charges upfront
  • Leave a review and feedback to empower locums to do the job well
  • Approve shifts and finalise payment with the click of a button

Locums:

  • Create a free profile and share your availability and rates
  • Browse and get notified of jobs that best fit your preferences and profile
  • Understand what software a pharmacy uses, how many scripts are dispensed and if you’re required to provide pharmacotherapy, all before you accept a shift
  • Accept a shift and communicate with the pharmacy directly.
  • View your schedule in a simple calendar
  • Provide feedback to pharmacies
  • Submit invoices and get paid on time, with no more complications about invoicing, GST summaries and other sole trader frustrations

We know that by equipping both pharmacies and locums with the right technology, we’re making the locum experience simple, straightforward and empowering for everyone involved.

We’re live: Locumate has launched!

Posted on | by Niamh Foley

Kavita Nadan – Locumate Co-Founder

 

I’ve spent the last couple of years imagining, designing, building and testing the idea of a platform for pharmacies and locums to connect directly. I’ve spent an equal amount of time reimagining, redesigning, rebuilding, and retesting everything we thought we knew. So today, it brings me great joy to announce the launch of Locumate! 

The launch is a phased roll out across Victoria, with the rest of Australia to follow. As a pharmacist, I’ve had first-hand experience on both sides of our platform; as a bright-eyed bushy tailed pharmacy graduate looking for work, and as a pharmacy manager, desperately wrangling last-minute locum shifts through agencies I had no control or oversight of. 

It’s this experience that led to the genesis of Locumate. The feeling that there just had to be a better way, for everyone involved. A way to give pharmacies control of asking for what they need, simplicity in a booking process, and transparency in who they work with and what they’ll be charged. Equally for locums, we wanted a way to choose where and when they’d like to work, clarity over how much they’ll be paid before taking a job, and a seamless way to get paid and view their shifts.

As we forged ahead with this project, it dawned on us that we weren’t alone thinking that there had to be a solution. I’ve always valued innovation, building, failing and learning quickly. But the best way to innovate and to learn is to put your product in the hands of your customers, and to involve them in every step of the way. So we did. A group of pharmacies and locums have been trialling Locumate, and have shared what they think:

“All I’ve done so far is set it up and approve a couple of time sheets. That was all easy. I got an email saying that there were submitted timesheets and to please action, which I was able to do easily. I’d recommend it, we use a lot of locums here. So far so good!” – J.,Pharmacy Manager.  

“Locumate has got a lot of merit, I can’t see much fault at all. I like the way it tells you in advance when your shifts are. I like it very very much. I think it’s a very clever step forward in the right direction.” – A., locum. 

I’m incredibly proud to launch Locumate today, but I’m more excited for what’s ahead. I’m passionate about building an empowered community of pharmacies and locums, and I think this starts by giving our community choices that they’ve never had before. This includes the ability to make decisions over how they’d like to work, develop and learn together, plus a digital solution to bring it all together.  

We know that there’s a better way, and we’d love for you to come on the journey with us. This is just the beginning. 

Kavi