Exploring employer perceptions of pharmacy technician certification in the community pharmacy setting

Cultures of support and resilience are associated with certified pharmacy technicians embracing new roles

BACKGROUND

Various technological, economic, and regulatory factors are creating opportunities for pharmacy technicians to take on additional responsibilities. Technicians in the broader sense have indicated a preference for expanded scope of duties; however, it is not known what drives technicians' greater inclinations to accept these new roles.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of various work-related factors, such as co-worker support, pharmacist-leadership style, future uncertainty, their own organizational commitment, and personal characteristics of technicians, including their resilience, on pharmacy technicians' willingness to take on emerging responsibilities in pharmacy.

METHODS

A self-administered questionnaire survey was disseminated through email to a national, randomized sample of 3000 technicians certified through the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). The questionnaire solicited data on willingness to participate in either of 13 emerging responsibilities as well as resilience, perceived transformative leadership behaviors of supervising pharmacists, future uncertainty, coworker support, organizational commitment, and various personal and practice-related variables. Following the use of principal component analyses for item purification and summation of various scale responses, inferential analyses were conducted via independent sample t-tests, one way analyses of variance, and Pearson's product moment correlation, as appropriate.

RESULTS

From 2906 surveys delivered, 878 were returned, with 745 of them providing completed responses on willingness to participate in emerging responsibilities. Willingness on most items/responsibilities was highly rated, with many means being at least 4 on a 5-point scale, though some were lower and perhaps a reflection of less exposure to these by way of their personal experience orpractice setting. Technicians' resilience, their coworker support, organizational commitment, and perceived transformative behaviors undertaken by their supervising pharmacists were all highly associated with willingness to engage.

CONCLUSIONS

Pharmacists, pharmacy technician peers, and organizations can contribute to a culture that is supportive for pharmacy technicians and may serve to encourage commitment, resilience, and willingness to embrace new, or emerging responsibilities.

The Academy Is Well Positioned to Offer Pharmacy Technician Training Programs

Schools and colleges of pharmacy are optimally positioned to train the entire pharmacy team, including pharmacists and pharmacy support personnel, because they can provide comprehensive workforce development, utilize established faculty expertise, harness existing infrastructure, afford opportunities for intraprofessional education, and support institutional growth and reputability. As the emphasis of training shifts towards team-based approaches and expanded responsibilities, ensuring the existing and future pharmacy workforce is equipped to serve their communities becomes increasingly important. Thus, schools and colleges of pharmacy should consider offering a pharmacy technician training program to meet the needs of their community and the profession.

The Optimizing Care Model: Final findings of a novel community pharmacy practice model to enhance patient care delivery using technician product verification

BACKGROUND

The community pharmacy represents a convenient health care access point for patients and is increasingly used to deliver direct patient care services; however, several barriers exist that hinder widespread patient service implementation and scalability. Such barriers include scope of practice restrictions, a dearth of sustainable payment models, lack of pharmacist capacity given other responsibilities, and workflow models developed for dispensing medications rather than clinical care. In an effort to overcome the lack of pharmacist time and capacity, further task delegation to pharmacy technicians has been suggested.

OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of this study was to present the final outcomes of the Optimizing Care Model's impact. The model's impact on pharmacist patient care, workday composition, and rates of product selection errors not identified during final product verification are reported.

METHODS

The Optimizing Care Model is an innovative approach to community pharmacy practice aiming to foster a new patient-centered care delivery model that expands clinical service delivery and fosters collaboration across health care settings through task delegation, primarily through technician product verification (TPV). To investigate the impact of its sustained implementation, a quasi-experimental, 1-group pretest-posttest design was used. Outcomes assessed included medication errors, clinical activities, and workday composition.

RESULTS

Six chain and 3 independent pharmacies completed the final, continuation phase of the study. Overall pharmacist time spent delivering patient care services increased significantly upon implementation of the Optimizing Care Model (21% vs. 43%; P < 0.05), whereas pharmacist time spent performing dispensing-related activities decreased significantly (67% vs. 37%; P < 0.05). Total undetected error rates were significantly less in the Optimizing Care Model phase compared with the traditional model (0.05% vs. 0.01%; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This study presented the final results of a 2-year assessment of the Optimizing Care Model. Results reaffirmed initial published findings that the model and its use of TPV increase the array and frequency of direct patient care services rendered while resulting in lower undetected error rates. Final project results of the Optimizing Care Model demonstrate increased clinical service delivery versus the traditional model, while also improving patient safety with lower rates of undetected dispensing errors within the Optimizing Care Model. The Optimizing Care Model continues to show promise as a future practice model for community pharmacies.

Pharmacy Technicians, Stigma, and Compassion Fatigue: Front-Line Perspectives of Pharmacy and the US Opioid Epidemic

The opioid epidemic in the United States has led to a quadrupling of opioid overdoses since the 1990s. Stigmas exist among healthcare professionals, and it is essential to educate the next generation of pharmacy technicians regarding opioid use disorder. The main objective of this study was to characterize the phenomenon of stigma through the pharmacy technician lens when taking care of patients who are using opioid medications. Grounded in Van Manen’s phenomenological approach and the Link and Phelan stigmatization model, a qualitative study was conducted from February to June 2020 to understand pharmacy technicians’ perceptions and attitudes towards patients using opioid medications. Focus groups (n = 46) with pharmacy technicians were conducted in-person and online over five months in 2020. Thematic analysis identified three themes that characterize the stigma and the relationship between pharmacy technicians and patients taking opioid medications: (1) pharmacy technician perspectives on stigma and patients with addictive opioid-use behavior; (2) current approaches of pharmacy technicians towards patients with addictive opioid-use behavior; (3) future approaches of pharmacy technicians towards patients with addictive opioid-use behavior. The findings highlight an “ever-present” negative connotation associated with the stigma that is formed from patient interaction. It is necessary to develop proper resources and educational materials to manage the stigma that exists in pharmacies throughout the nation. These resources will facilitate how to address and prevent the stigma among pharmacy technicians in the U.S.

Exploring multi-stakeholder perceptions of practice-related facilitators to optimising the quality of integration of regulated pharmacy technicians in community pharmacy in Ontario: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to investigate multi-stakeholder perceptions of practice-related facilitators to optimising the quality of Regulated Pharmacy Technician (RPT) integration into the community workforce in Ontario. Facilitators to incorporating technicians into the workflow and supporting their optimal scope of practice were explored.

METHODS

A qualitative exploratory study comprising a series of one-to-one interviews using a piloted, semi-structured interview guide was conducted with four community pharmacy stakeholder groups; pharmacists, RPTs, pharmacy assistants and pharmacy owners. Interviews were conducted until saturation of themes. Verbatim transcripts were coded inductively using the software, NVivo v12 (QSR International) and general inductive analysis identified key findings.

KEY FINDINGS

Twenty-seven interviews were conducted consisting of seven pharmacists, seven RPTs, eight assistants and five pharmacy owners working within community pharmacy and/or academia or hospital. All participants from every stakeholder group acknowledged that the promise of regulation of pharmacy technicians was unfulfilled in practice. Three major themes of practical significance were derived: (i) A viable business plan that incorporates RPT remuneration and ensures sustainability is a facilitator to fuller integration of RPTs, (ii) Planning the pharmacy workflow to support RPTs' and pharmacists' evolving scopes is a facilitator to RPT integration and (iii) Schedule planning to incorporate RPTs and appropriate staffing ratios in relation to prescription volume and pharmacy services allows for optimal utilisation of RPT skills and facilitates their integration.

CONCLUSIONS

Achieving integration of RPTs into the business of a community pharmacy has educational, workplace and regulatory implications, requiring the effective engagement of all stakeholders in pharmacy.

Pharmacist-Pharmacy Technician Intraprofessional Collaboration and Workplace Integration: Implications for Educators

Globally, concerns have been expressed regarding the impact of regulation of pharmacy technicians. After more than a decade of experience with technician regulation in Ontario, Canada, uptake of the full scope of practice for technicians has been sporadic at best. The objective of this study was to examine barriers and facilitators to intraprofessional collaboration between pharmacists and pharmacy technicians for the purpose of identifying possible curricular or educational interventions to enhance workplace integration. A qualitative, interview-based study of 24 pharmacists, technicians, educators, pharmacy managers, and owners was undertaken using a semi-structured interview guide. Key findings of this research include: i) Confirmation of suboptimal utilization of regulated technicians in practice; ii) identification of crucial knowledge and skills gaps for both pharmacists and technicians; and iii) proposals for undergraduate education and training, and continuing professional development learning opportunities to address these gaps. In order to achieve the promise and potential of regulation of pharmacy technicians, system-wide change management-beginning with education-will be required and will benefit from multiple stakeholder engagement and involvement.