It
is true that pharmacists are born rather than made? That
pharmacies are only passed on from generation to
generation, from father to son? Not according to
Paolo Polini
and his wife Maria Teresa
Faucci who built up their pharmacy from nothing without
any of their relatives being pharmacists. "It all
started in 1995 in Seville where we met while we were
both studying as part of the Erasmus study exchange
programme. My wife has a degree in pharmacology and I
graduated with a degree in chemistry and pharmaceutical
technology. After graduating, my wife started working as
a researcher for the University of Florence and I
started to work in for pharmaceutical multinationals.
After getting married in 2000, I moved to Florence so
she could carry on her research work. I got a job
selling pharmaceutical products but I had already
decided that I want to open up my own pharmacy. As we
were living in rented accommodation at the time, we
asked our parents if there would help us buy a pharmacy
instead of buying our first home."
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|
Dr Paolo
Polini with 2 of his assistants |
When did you start?
"1st
January 2003. Then in 2004 we rented a small room next
door and we decided to refurbish and modernise the whole
pharmacy. We wanted to make it a lot more luminous so we
were very careful about how we designed the lighting,
ensuring the our customers are welcomed into a pleasant
environment that makes them feel better already. A lot
of people think that spending money in a pharmacy is a
unfortunate necessity so we try the make them feel at
ease by seeking to make customers feel really special
and helping them solve their problems not necessarily
selling them a product ...
You must be passionate about your job to be a pharmacist
is very taxing as it involves a lot of contact with
customers. We witness real tragedies develop from behind
the counter, as customers come in wanting a OTC, then go
onto more serious treatments as their condition gets
worse. Above all, however, every person that comes into
the pharmacy has a problem, big or small, or wants a
chat, all of whom need to be listened to have their
needs taken care of."
How many pharmacies are their in your area?
"There are 7 pharmacies in the Bagno a Ripoli area,
although ours is the only one located in the centre of
town. I hope that my customers do not only come to me
because I am the only one in town, rather that they have
chosen to come here due to our professionalism after
having gone and tried out other pharmacies. This our
trump card which we can play now OTC can be sold in
supermarkets."
What services do you offer beyond selling
pharmaceutical products?
«When
we enlarged the pharmacy in 2005, we increase the size
of the stock room and started to offer new services such
as doing blood, urine and water tests. We also installed
machines that perform the tests and give people their
test results automatically without us getting involved.
Our customers just do the test and then they get a print
off with the results.
These tests do not replace those done by your GP but are
useful for people who have to do periodic testing, such
as diabetics, people with high cholesterol or high blood
pressure. They are also useful for people who have
starting a particular course of treatment and want to
find out if its working. People like them because they
are often quicker and cheaper than standard tests.
Since last summer we also have been doing water testing
which is very useful for all those who have a well and
need to find out if the water is safe to use for
watering plants, the vegetable garden or used for
filling up a swimming pool.
Is there an area
specialising in complementary therapies?
"We started selling
herbal medicines to those who asked for them and not
recommending them instead of conventional
medicines prescribed by GP's. We also recruited a
homeopathic medicine specialist has really give this
product sector a boost which is very complex and
difficult. While herbal medicines shares the same
foundations as conventional medicine, homeopathy is
something completely new. Our homeopathic medicine
specialist sells homeopathic remedies upon request and
also gives out advice upon appointment only.
We have deliberately promoted a more personal
pharmacist-customer relationship. Customers often come
into the pharmacy and wait until the pharmacist they
know and trust is free so that they can talk with
someone who already knows about their problems ..."
So, your pharmacy is divided into different specialisms?
"Yes, we are working
towards having all of our speciality sectors manned by
someone who is qualified in that particular discipline,
be it cosmetics, herbal medicine or homeopathy sectors.
Each specialist is going to be aided by a non
specialist. Obviously only the trained pharmacists can
give out and prepare prescription medicines.
We are also looking to invest in the complementary and
herbal medicine sector and purchase the equipment needed
to produce some complementary therapies and nutritional
supplements like Vitamin C".
Do you think that pharmacies should sell everything,
such as cosmetics…
«I
think that pharmacies are cross roads where health care
in a strict sense should meet being consumer's demand
for products that help them feel good. Therefore,
pharmacies should concentrate primarily on traditional
products, such as OTC, complementary medicines,
homeopathy etc, but I do not see why we cannot venture
into dermocosmetics. I believe that we should only sell
products that reflect my professional knowledge as a
qualified pharmacist so as to make me stand out from a
shop selling cosmetics. In short, pharmacies can expand
into new product areas without compromises their
fundamental identity.
How will small
pharmacies like your meet the challenge coming from the
larger supermarkets and chain stores?
"Smaller specialised
pharmacies like ours have a very important role to play
as they give citizens very useful advice that is not
available from the pharmacy department in a supermarket.
Due to the fact that we are highly specialised and have
a good long standing relationship with our customers, we
are able to tell them whether that medicine they are
about to take is not compatible with one they are
already taking as well as give them lots of information
on how to use medicines safely and properly. Thanks to
this very personalised approach our customers keep
coming back to us because they trust in our expert
opinion. It is not a coincidence that Italy has the
least number of cases where people have made themselves
ill though the inappropriate use of OTC medicines. The
other thing is that customers will not save money buying
from supermarket pharmacies in the long run as, without
any guidance, they will buy more then they need or
things they do not need at all.
Nonetheless, smaller
pharmacies will end up selling less OTC, although we
must fight back by investing in a ever more personalised
service which gets results, wins over customer's trust
and
ensures people will prefer buying their health care
products from us rather than the supermarket."
Franco Travaglini
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