Pharmacy Technician-Administered Vaccines: On Perceptions and Practice Reality

Abstract

Doucette and Schommer recently surveyed U.S. community pharmacy technicians on their willingness to perform tasks including the administration of vaccines. They found that 47.1% of technicians reported they were “unwilling” to administer a vaccine, although this finding must be placed into proper context. The first nationwide survey of U.S. pharmacist perceptions on immunizations in 1998 revealed only 2.2% of pharmacist respondents had administered adult vaccines and only 0.9% had administered childhood vaccines. They also found pharmacists to be “slightly negative on administering immunizations” with many perceived barriers. Nonetheless, pharmacist-provided immunizations have been an unqualified public health success. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) predicts intention from attitude and perceived behavioral control, among other factors. Given low involvement, exposure, and perceived behavioral control to administer vaccinations, technicians’ attitudes or willingness to participate from the Doucette and Shommer study can be regarded as quite positive. Given the results of a successful pilot project in Idaho and that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control will likely shift upward, one can only expect technicians’ willingness to participate in vaccinations to become more favorable and ultimately become a success.

Wage Premiums as a Means to Evaluate the Labor Market for Pharmacy Technicians in the United States: 1997–2018

“…Since 2006 wage premiums for pharmacy technicians in the US have fluctuated in a manner and to a degree similar to those experienced by the median of "all occupations" in the US economy. Yet, what has been asked of pharmacy technicians in terms of expanded job roles [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and regulatory requirements [21][22][23] has increased over this time. While one would expect to see positive wage premiums as a result of these increases in job roles and requirements, this was not observed in our analysis, and is consistent with the findings of other researchers [21,22].…”

“…Pharmacy technicians support pharmacists in dispensing medications, performing clinical functions needed to improve the outcomes of mediation use [4][5][6], and to perform a number of administrative functions which assist in the operations of a pharmacy [7]. Pharmacy technicians have been asked to increasingly take on roles that had previously been exclusively performed by pharmacists, including reviewing medications and checking the work of other technicians prior to dispensing [8,9], taking medication histories [10], managing warfarin therapy within a clinical pharmacy anticoagulation service [11] and immunization delivery [12]. Pharmacists depend upon a stable labor market of pharmacy technicians to support them in optimizing patient health outcomes.…”

Moving the Needle: A 50-State and District of Columbia Landscape Review of Laws Regarding Pharmacy Technician Vaccine Administration

“…A total of 41 states (80%) were classified as Prohibited Directly or Prohibited Indirectly through statute or regulation. This finding was not surprising considering the minority of states (three) in which pharmacy technicians currently can administer immunizations [8][9][10][11]. The remaining two states (Idaho, Utah) which currently have pharmacy technician administration of immunizations are classified as Not Expressly Prohibited.…”

“…To date, three states have made changes within scope of practice to include pharmacy technician administration of vaccinations, including Idaho, Rhode Island, and Utah with others pending [8][9][10][11]. What may not be as apparent are the statutes and regulations surrounding allowance, prohibition, or silence in all 50 states and D.C.…”

T.E.A.M.S.Work: Leveraging Technicians to Enhance ABM Med Sync in Community Pharmacies

“…In response to value-based payment structures, community pharmacies recognize the expansion of pharmacy technicians' roles for achieving optimal patient care [1]. Both medication dispensing support and clinical service support have been adopted by pharmacy technicians [2]. Technicians' roles have expanded to include taking and transferring prescriptions and "tech-check-tech" duties with no statistically significant differences detected in the accuracy or error-detection rates between pharmacists and technicians [3].…”