Hi Colleen,

I don't know about the accounting rules. But I would rather put away the order. This way I can make sure I got what I ordered. And if I key in the order for the next day I do not double order.

Our order comes around 7ish in the morning. Most of the time the order is put away before 9a.m. The techs help out when they can but "ordering" is my job as is putting it away.

Munira

I know that many hospitals have this same procedure.
The person buying is not allowed to put away the order. We used to have the same requirement. Here's what I did to make everyone happy. I put the order away and then had another tech sign my copy of the invoice. Example: they would signed (received by Jane Doe) This made the auditors happy and the techs were not complaining about having to do the extra work. I put away my own order because when someone else puts it away it is a disaster. It's like having someone organize your closet who really doesn't want to do it. You find things in the weirdest places and you know you it's supposed to be there but it's nowhere to be found.

As long as you have a paper trail that states that the order was received by a person other than yourself and your techs that will be willing to sign off on your invoices the auditors should be satisfied. I know this sounds a little sneaky but people who make rules for pharmacy who don't work in the pharmacy have no clue as to how our systems work in regards to work load. They obviously think we have a whole bunch of people standing around just looking for something to do.
I hope this helps

Colleen at my place i have two purchasing techs. One places the order and puts it away. The other does the coding of the invoices. Thus a double check. I thought of one placing the order and the other putting it away, but I feel that it's good for the person placing the order to know that product in fact came in. At the end of the month I review the purcahses with the projected budget. Thus a third set of eyes watching. With narcotics there is a third person (technician) involved with entering it into the safe.

Carl,

What is the size of your hospital? It must be pretty large to support 1 buyer and 2 purchasing techs.
Sounds like you are in the position that the rest of us can only dream about.
Beth

Beth I'm pretty lucky. I was at a smaller 200 bed hospital. As two hospitals merged (now 540 beds), there was a need to purchase at two sites. My director at the time had the wisdom to see that one person could not run both sites effectively. The neeeew site was a mess. So he appointed me to over see the purchasing as well as other duties. We got two techs to step up to do daily activites. In 2004 when the two pharmacies merged, I thought for sure that one postion would be cut. Administration committed to no one losing jobs. So last month when one of my guys left, I thought for sure that the position would be cut. Within 48hours the position was sign off to be filled. I believe you have to sell your self. I now do the fiscal budget, many reports for finance and try to get all request by other departments with 48 hours. I continue to expand the duties of my techs, (although they think I'm crzy at times). But I do it for there benefit. Thus make them more valuable to the team. Even when I do not get the same in return. I have been with the hospital for 23 years, thus many people come to me for things that are not even pharmacy related. It can be taxing at times but I love what I do. I have a great boss that believes in his staff. And as I stated in the begining, I'm pretty lucky.
Carl
Sorry for being so long winded.