Can they do it? Comparing the views of pharmacists and technicians to the introduction of an advanced technician role†

Napier, Patti; Norris, Pauline; Green, James; Braund, Rhiannon

doi:10.1111/ijpp.12225

Cited by 15 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In both NZ and other countries, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians hold differing opinions as to which tasks are appropriate for support staff, and technicians abilities to take on additional roles . Delegation of tasks is not something many pharmacists find easy due to both liability concerns and professional identity .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The survey was developed by PN and verified by RB, and was based on a previously piloted survey utilised in an earlier study . The surveys consisted of yes/no questions, five‐point Likert scale ranking questions on opinions (1 = strong disagreement to 5 = strong agreement), and questions that requested participants to provide additional details and examples as free text comments.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The devolution of the responsibility for the final accuracy check to a specially trained technician has been suggested as a way to further reduce the time pharmacists spend on dispensing activities . The pharmacist would perform an appropriateness check of the prescription before releasing it for dispensing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[5][6][7] The devolution of the responsibility for the final accuracy check to a specially trained technician has been suggested as a way to further reduce the time pharmacists spend on dispensing activities. [8][9][10] The pharmacist would perform an appropriateness check of the prescription before releasing it for dispensing. This would not be a full 'medication review', but a clinical assessment utilising the available patient history and would endeavour to identify any potential adherence or drug-related problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experiences of pharmacy staff during the introduction of the checking technician role in New Zealand

Napier

Norris

Green

et al. 2018

International Journal of Pharmacy Practice

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Objectives To investigate the experiences of the participants in a study introducing a Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technician (PACT) role, and specifically their perceptions of any advantages and disadvantages. Methods Self‐administered surveys were distributed during the introduction of a checking technician role in eight community and four hospital pharmacy sites. Surveys were conducted at three time points; at baseline, at mid‐point and a final data collection. Questions covered staff perceptions on; technicians’ ability to take on this role, impact on workflow, impact on pharmacists’ time spent with patients and any perceived advantages or disadvantages. Key findings Three hundred and fifty‐five responses were received from participants. There was significant support for the introduction of this new role, and the greatest advantage identified was an increase in time available to pharmacists to increase potential clinical activities. Many staff felt that this role could easily fit into their current workplace and workflow with minor adjustments. There was a perception that this new role would increase safety and decrease errors as a result of the separation of clinical and checking tasks. Respondents identified a need for more technicians; however, conversely concern was expressed of a negative impact on the number of pharmacists’ jobs. Conclusions Despite the disruption caused by the training process, the respondents believed this new role to be beneficial to both staff and patients, and that the new model would allow for increased error identification and enhanced safety.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Experiences of pharmacy staff during the introduction of the checking technician role in New Zealand

Napier

Norris

Green

et al. 2018

International Journal of Pharmacy Practice

Self Cite

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“…However, it may force pharmacies to rethink and reorganise the way they work, making better use of pharmacy support staff (particularly pharmacy technicians) in the more technical aspects of the dispensing process and, indeed, other services. Pharmacy technicians and other support staff have been shown in recent studies to be able and, indeed, willing to take on such roles [76][77][78] and this may free pharmacists' own capacity to deliver a wider range of advanced and locally commissioned services and open up new income streams.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the organisational factors associated with variation in clinical productivity in community pharmacies: a mixed-methods study

Jacobs

Bradley

Elvey

et al. 2017

Health Serv Deliv Res

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Background Community pharmacies play a key role in health-care systems, dispensing prescriptions and providing medicine-related services. Service provision varies across community pharmacy organisations and may depend on organisational characteristics, such as ownership, staffing and skill mix. Objectives To inform the commissioning of community pharmacy services by (1) exploring variation in clinical productivity (levels of service delivery and service quality) in pharmacies, (2) identifying the organisational factors associated with this variation and (3) developing a toolkit for commissioners. Design Mixed-methods study: community pharmacy survey, administrative data analysis, patient survey, stakeholder interviews and toolkit development. Setting Nine socioeconomically diverse geographical areas of England. Participants Stage 1: community pharmacies in nine study areas. Stage 2: in 39 pharmacies, two consecutive samples of approximately 30 patients each following receipt of (1) dispensing and (2) medicines use review (MUR) services. Pharmacy and commissioning representatives from across all types of pharmacy and study sites. Main outcome measures Stage 1: dispensing, MUR, new medicines service volume and safety climate. Stage 2: patient satisfaction, Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale (SIMS) and Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS). Data sources Stage 1: (i) community pharmacy activity data; (ii) socioeconomic and health needs data; and (iii) community pharmacy questionnaire (ownership type, organisational culture, staffing and skill mix, working patterns, management structure, safety climate, pharmacy–general practice integration), all linked by pharmacy postcode and organisational ‘F’ code. Stage 2: (i) patient questionnaire (background, patient satisfaction, SIMS, MARS); (ii) semistructured stakeholder interviews (variation in quantity and quality of service provision, opportunities and barriers to clinical productivity, mechanisms by which different organisational characteristics may help or hinder clinical productivity). Quantitative data were analysed by fitting a series of fixed-effects linear, logistic and multilevel logistic regression models in Stata® (version 13; StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). Qualitative data were analysed thematically using a framework approach in NVivo10 (QSR International, Warrington, UK). Results In stage 1, 285 out of 817 pharmacy questionnaires were returned [valid response rate 34.6% (277/800)]. In stage 2, 1008 out of 2124 patient questionnaires were returned [valid response rate 46.5% (971/2087)]. Thirty pharmacy and 10 commissioning representatives were interviewed face to face or by telephone. Following integration of stage 1 and 2 findings, clinical productivity was associated with pharmacy ownership type, organisational culture, staffing and skill mix, and pharmacy–general practice relationships. Extra-organisational associations included local area deprivation, age profile and health needs, pharmacy location, public perceptions and expectations, supply chain problems, commissioning structures/processes, levels of remuneration and legal/regulatory constraints. Existing arrangements for monitoring clinical productivity focused primarily on quantity. Limitations Non-random selection of study sites and non-participation by four major pharmacy chains limited generalisability. Investigation of the full scope of pharmacy service provision was prevented by a lack of available activity data for locally commissioned services. Quantitative exploration of service quality was limited by available validated measures. Conclusions These findings have important implications for community pharmacies and service commissioners, highlighting the importance of ownership type, organisational culture, staffing and skill mix for maximising the delivery of high-quality pharmacy services and informing the development of a commissioners’ toolkit. Future work Future studies should (1) develop tools to measure community pharmacy service quality; (2) describe and evaluate different models of skill mix; and (3) explore how services are commissioned locally from community pharmacies and the extent to which local needs are met. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

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Engaging pharmacy technicians for advanced clinical support tasks in community pharmacies: A cluster analysis

Moya¹,

Unni²,

Montuoro³

et al. 2019

Journal of the American Pharmacists Association

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Can they do it? Comparing the views of pharmacists and technicians to the introduction of an advanced technician role†

Cited by 15 publications

References 13 publications

Experiences of pharmacy staff during the introduction of the checking technician role in New Zealand

Experiences of pharmacy staff during the introduction of the checking technician role in New Zealand

Investigating the organisational factors associated with variation in clinical productivity in community pharmacies: a mixed-methods study

Engaging pharmacy technicians for advanced clinical support tasks in community pharmacies: A cluster analysis

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