By Adebay Oladejo –
Pharmacists in Lagos State have been advised to be mindful of their attitude towards their clients, as this plays an important role in their productivity and contributes significantly to their occupational success.
The counsel was given by Pharm. Modupe Oyawole, assistant director of pharmacy, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), while delivering her keynote address at the Association of Lady Pharmacists, Lagos State Chapter's end-of-year party and bi-monthly meeting, held at the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) secretariat in Ojota, Lagos last December.
Addressing the audience, the lecturer who hinted that she was happy to be identified with the association, being a woman herself, spoke on the topic “Attitudinal Change for Professional Excellence”.
She revealed that a truly successful life requires that one pays special attention to the areas that could have the greatest positive impact on quality of life and overall success, adding that a person with relevant knowledge and skills but demonstrating wrong attitude would not be able to contribute much to his or her organisation and community. “Moreover, the higher the skills and knowledge of a person, the greater damage they can do to the organisation, if their attitude is flawed,” she noted.
Continuing, she said, “We have two types of clients internal and external. While the internal clients are the various people who work for your organisation in other departments and locations and depend on you to enable them complete their work to serve the customer, the external clients are people who buy and need services from your organisation.”
Speaking on the skills needed for attitudinal change, Pharm. Oyawole listed patience as paramount, saying it is not only important to clients, who often reach out for support when they are confused and frustrated, but also to the business at large.
She added also that, “the ability to really listen to clients is so crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons. Not only is it important to pay attention to individual client interactions, watching the language and terms that they use to describe their problems, but it's also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive.”
Meanwhile, speaking earlier with Pharmanews, Pharm. ModupeOlogunagba, chairperson, ALPs, Lagos State Branch, had said that the purpose of the programme, apart from being a day for their bi-monthly meeting, was to appreciate God for his mercies over the association and to prepare her members for the challenges ahead in 2014.
“The year 2013 was a great year but it was full of challenges for me and the association,” she said with hindsight. “Our major challenge is membership attendance at our activities. Presently, we have over 300 registered and practicing lady pharmacists in Lagos State, but it is worrisome that the active ones are not more than 60. Meanwhile, we have been able to strategise to reach out to some key persons in the practice, so that as soon as we are able to reach them, we will be able to mobilise more members and we are hopeful that the strategy will work.
She also urged all pharmacists in the state to join the association, promising that the association would offer them a platform to associate and explore into other areas. “Being an interest group of the PSN, we are promising that we would offer them a platform for expansion. We would also offer a platform of love, which is a mandate of God to humanity; therefore they should all endeavour to join us and be part of the family,” she said.
