The Hidden Role of Community Pharmacy Technicians in Ensuring Patient Safety with the Use of E-Prescribing

Abstract

Objectives It has been reported that supportive personnel, such as pharmacy technicians, are key participants in the use of health information technology. The purpose of this study was to describe how pharmacy technicians use e-prescribing and to explore the characteristics of technicians that support pharmacists in ensuring patient safety. Methods This was a qualitative study that used observations, interviews, and focus groups to understand the role of pharmacy technicians in e-prescribing. Fourteen pharmacy technicians and 13 pharmacists from five community pharmacies participated. Observations lasted about nine hours in each pharmacy. Follow-up interviews and two separate focus groups were later conducted. Observation field notes and audio recordings were transcribed and thematically analyzed. Results Pharmacy technicians were primarily responsible for all steps leading up to pharmacist review of the e-prescription and dispensing of medications to the patient. Technician characteristics, including experience, certification status, and knowledge of appropriate medication use, were reported as important factors in supporting a pharmacist’s role in ensuring patient safety with the use of e-prescribing. Conclusion Study findings indicate that pharmacy technicians have an important role in supporting pharmacists to prevent medication errors. Certain characteristics of pharmacy technicians were identified with the potential to improve the e-prescription medication dispensing process and decrease patient harm through the identification and resolution of errors.

Perceived roles of independent community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in patient referrals to community resources: A Study from the Medication Safety Research Network of Indiana (Rx‐SafeNet)

“…As pharmacist roles have expanded into direct patient care services, optimizing the utilization of pharmacy technicians and other support staff has been a commonly cited consideration . Available literature demonstrates the positive impact on patient care and safety when incorporating community pharmacy technicians into more direct patient care processes, and a recent white paper outlines “best practices” for engaging these personnel in ways which support pharmacist provision of patient care services . Examples of these best practices include ensuring appropriate certification and training of support staff and incorporating support staff into appropriate parts of the PCPP.…”

Participation of pharmacy technicians in clinical and patient-centered care practices: A state-wide survey in Nigeria

“…1 In congruence, PTs were reportedly essential in providing assistance to pharmacists for effective prevention of medication errors in a previous study in United States. 30 This can reduce the incidences of drug-related problems, which could result in significant morbidity or mortality. Advanced clinical activities that include medication therapy management have also been gradually delegated to PTs in United States 28,31 but are still beyond the scope of practice in Nigeria.…”

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“…Other reasons included decreasing errors (32, 8.4%), transferring the pharmacist's experience (59, 15.5%), teaching them their job description (27,7.1%), loving to teach (22, 5.8%), teaching them job ethics (5, 1.3%) and to ease communication (4, 1%). The main reasons for refusing to participate in their training were lack of time (55, 45.5%), refusing the concept of certification (25,20.7%), being not good at teaching (19,15.7%), the fear that they might be dishonest (11,9.1%), the lack of experience (8,6.6%) and believing that only pharmacists should deal with medications (8, 6.6%). This was an open ended question.…”

“…There are many studies in USA, NZ and UK that support such roles as tech-checktech, medication reconciliation, clinical pharmacy technician, community health worker and accuracy checking technician(ACT). 6,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] .…”