Does the introduction of pharmacy technician support during nursing medication rounds in hospital wards help reduce the number of omitted medication doses in a NHS hospital in England?

Exploring an extended role for pharmacy assistants on inpatient wards in UK hospitals: using mixed methods to develop the role of medicines assistants

“…This study supports existing work that demonstrates a reduction in medication administration omissions when MAs assist nurse-led administraiton 16. Although a pilot trial reported by Keers et al revealed only a small impact on the average number of omitted doses when pharmacy technicians supported administration,15 our study suggests that this outcome may also be achieved with MAs. A comparative study is needed to observe if MAs may be better placed to support medicines administration than pharmacy technicians.…”

“…The pharmacy assistant’s role then may provide an alternative workforce to support medication administration. However, while pharmacy assistants may be readily recruited the majority of studies within the literature report findings in relation to pharmacists or pharmacy technicians 15. Baqir et al suggest pharmacy assistants who were patient facing and ward based, referred to as ‘medicines assistants’ (MA) to differentiate from other pharmacy assistants working on wards doing product-focused tasks (eg, topping up stock), can significantly reduce unacceptable omitted doses (UOD) of prescribed inpatient medications 16.…”