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Personal Stories

More Than Just a Pharmacy Technician

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The following guest post was written by Joanne Adam, a certified pharmacy technician. We are grateful to Joanne for sharing her story and helping others to understand how important the role of pharmacy technician has become, especially in our nation’s hospitals.

 

When I first started out as a pharmacy technician, people would ask me, “What do you do for a living?” and I would often answer, “I am just a pharmacy technician.” When I think of the many changes that have happened over the 30+ years I have been working in as a tech, I certainly need to re-think my original answer!

Over time, I have seen the role of a pharmacy technician, in the hospital setting, evolve from clerk and typist into critical and important member of the pharmacy team. As my role changed, my attitude about my work also changed. I realized that what I did was important and had a direct impact on the safety and welfare on the patients I was helping to care for.

There are many opportunities for technicians to expand their skill sets, especially in a hospital environment: from stocking automated dispensing machines to repackaging and relabeling medications, from learning to make intravenous infusions to mixing chemotherapy drugs, from shooting IVs by hand to the latest in robotic technology – the possibilities are vast!

While many states don’t require it, getting your certification as a pharmacy technician is a great first step to begin a career in health care. Once you are placed in a job, continuing education builds on that training along with the experience you gain working with other technicians and pharmacists. I’ve taken away many new techniques and procedures from the people that I have worked with along the way.

If I could give some words of advice to someone thinking about becoming a pharmacy technician, I would say, “Learn as much as you can!” There is never a job too small to learn. Also, “Ask questions!” To ask is to better understand how and why something works. Lastly, “Can you show me how it’s done?” If you are shown how a task is done, you have an opportunity to learn a new skill and then you can take that skill with you.

It can be a stressful job and it’s essential to stay focused and get it correct. With a dedication to learn and the guidance of a good pharmacy team, the hard work can be very rewarding.

I take great pride in my job because I want to do the right thing for the patient and for myself.  There is great satisfaction in knowing that by delivering a stat medication to a nurse or preparing an IV needed for a critical NICU baby, that I was truly able to help someone in need.

As I think back about my career in pharmacy, I realize I am so much more than “just a pharmacy technician”! I am a certified pharmacy technician and a truly valuable member of the healthcare team.

 

Are you looking for an affordable and accessible career opportunity in healthcare?

Become a Certified Pharmacy Technician!

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For more information about pharmacy technician certification please visit: https://rxtoolkitelearning.com/ptu/

To enroll in Pharmacy Technicians University and prepare to take the national certification exam from the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board, please visit: https://rxtoolkitelearning.com/shop/

 

 

Reflections on the Future of Infusion Safety

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In life, you don’t often get a chance to be a part of something at its inception. Those of us who attended the first NICA meeting in Austin were provided just such an opportunity. For the very first conference put on by NICA, it was flawless. The breakout sessions were informative and subject matter was on point. The food was even good! Credit goes to NICA leadership: Brian, Morgan, Amy and the rest of the team.

For the RxTOOLKIT team, the best part of the meeting was the people: the attendees, the speakers, and the other exhibitors. We were fortunate to be part of many lively and productive discussions about issues facing the infusion market today: medication safety, operational costs, quality of care, clinical excellence, patient satisfaction, and staff training.

What became clear to us was that for providers, the patient and their experience was one of the most important goals of care. To accomplish this the focus was on staff competency, appropriate technology, and outcome measurement. This included using outcome data as a tool to rewrite and improve the very goals of care.

Another big highlight of the meeting was the release of the NICA Minimum Standards for Outpatient Infusion. This important document is the first step in developing the process and consistency necessary for the safe preparation and administration of sterile parenteral products in an outpatient infusion environment.

We are also thrilled to report that RxTOOLKIT already has tools available that help providers meet or exceed a number of the recommendations made by the NICA Minimum Standards! We are excited to be an integral part of helping this vital industry in providing a safer, more convenient, and cost-effective channel for infusion therapy in patients with chronic illness.

The relationships that we establish in life can often help shape our future successes. With an open dialogue and through the exchange of ideas we can lift each other up, improve the quality of care, and make it safer for both patients and caregivers.

For more information please contact us or visit: ivsafety.rxtoolkit.com

Taking Control of Your Internal Reference Library

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We’ve all seen this; a healthcare worker in a white coat, pockets stuffed with papers. In hand, they have a notebook, handheld calculator, and a variety of dog-eared papers.

Early in my career, I decided to take a clinical supervisory position after serving 15+ years as a traveling executive for a healthcare company. Though I had been a licensed pharmacist for 25+ years, I had not “practiced pharmacy” in a long time. One of my colleagues at the time jokingly referred to me as “clinically dead”.

Pharmacy practice had seen many changes in my 15-year “absence”. When I left, hospital pharmacists were consigned to one room together, typically in the basement somewhere. But now, I was observing a highly diversified and far more clinically evolved practice. Pharmacists were out on the floor with nurses and the dispensing function was being integrated more fully with direct patient care.

My biggest concern was that I had no idea what reference information was in the pockets of all those white coats for which I had the responsibility to supervise. I felt that I had no control over the information my staff was using in the clinical decision making process.

I asked each of my staff to give me a copy of what there where using as a reference and/or tool in their decision-making process. Once they were gathered, we complied those papers and put them on the web for ease of access. We added search terms to make it even easier to find the information and RxDOCUMENT™ was born. Actually, it was the birth of RxTOOLKIT® itself, as that was our very first app.

RxDOCUMENT™ provided an easy to access standardized internal reference library and eventually grew to hold slide presentations, in-service materials, policies, procedures, and best practice recommendations.

RxDOCUMENT™ was our first application and is still one of our most popular!

Of course, now days, your staff could be using a digital notepad full of links. But whatever method they use, what really matters is taking control, and getting everyone on the same page. RxDOCUMENT™ can help you to establish your standardized reference library and provide a strong foundation for your staff’s clinical decision-making process.

For more information about RxDOCUMENT™ please contact us or visit RxTOOLKIT.com.

Pharmacy Technicians: The Invisible Asset

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If you have ever had a prescription filled in a pharmacy, received an IV infusion in a hospital, or received a medication in a nursing home, you have received services from a pharmacy technician. Who are these people? How are they trained?

The answer to these questions is both complex and inconsistent but can be summarized in one phrase, “it depends.” This post will provide some background about my own experience with pharmacy technicians, explore the current regulatory landscape, and provide some suggestions for how we can move forward.

Pharmacist Mate – NEC HM-8242

One of my first positions as a pharmacist was as a pharmacy officer at the US Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. That job caused me to fall in love with both the Navy and Philadelphia, as well as, to develop a special appreciation for pharmacy technicians. The Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) for a pharmacy technician is NEC HM-8242. The pharmacy technicians are trained first as hospital corpsman and then they attend a 12-week course at the joint Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) in San Antonio, Texas. That’s 26-weeks total in military style training, 8-hour days, 5 days a week.

Naval pharmacy technicians perform the same type of tasks in naval hospitals as civilian pharmacy technicians. Among those duties are dispensing, sterile compounding, non-sterile compounding, automated dispensing cabinet management, and purchasing. Besides the work that they do in naval hospitals, they also serve “independent duty”. Independent duty involves work on naval war ships. These individuals can also be deployed to FMF (fleet marine force) to serve in combat areas.

After the intense training and military service, these healthcare professionals know their job and they do it well. Many of the pharmacy technicians that I knew went on to become pharmacists after leaving the Navy, one even later reentered the Navy and became the service chief for all naval pharmacists.

This experience provided me awareness and appreciation for the intensity of the training provided, the required skill sets, and the complex nature of the job of pharmacy technician.

Hospital Pharmacy Technicians

After my tour in the Navy, I spent the bulk of my career as a practicing hospital pharmacist, with many pharmacy technicians working under my supervision.

Typically, there is not a single dose of a medication in any hospital pharmacy that does not pass through the hands of at least one pharmacy technician prior to administration. They are extremely valuable team members but very few patients ever realize the complexities and importance of their role.

The Corner Drug Store

Pharmacy technicians also play an important role in retail pharmacy. They work “behind the counter” assisting pharmacists in the preparation and dispensing of medications. Retail pharmacy technicians must also learn about insurance plans, co-pays, and the use of generic medications so they are equipped to handle patient questions.

What do the Regulations Say?

Pharmacy technician certification or registration is controlled at the state level and not the federal level. As you can imagine, states are all over the board at this time, but that is changing.

The chart below shows the number of certified pharmacy technicians per 100,000 people in each state. The states with the orange bars are the states that have no regulations regarding pharmacy technicians. It’s easy to see that in states working to recognize this valuable resource and establish minimum standards of competency, the ratio of CPhT’s to the population rises dramatically.

The good news is that virtually every state in looking at legislation to regulate pharmacy technicians and the number of states regulating pharmacy technician training has increased steadily over the last 10 years.

While many states do not specifically define the duties of pharmacy technicians, some states mandate pharmacy technician to pharmacist work ratios. Common ratios are 2 to 1 or 3 to 1, meaning 2 technicians to 1 pharmacist in the workplace.

Unfortunately still, in most states (including my home state of Pennsylvania), licensure is not required. Registration is not required. There is no minimum skill proficiency required. Training is often provided on the job with no organized standards (though many organizations establish their own set of requirements which can vary widely).

In Ohio in 2005, there was no registration or licensure of pharmacy technicians. That changed in February of 2006. Only after Emily Jerry’s tragic death, through the formation of the Emily Jerry Foundation, and by the perseverance of her dad, Emily’s Law was passed–requiring certification, background checks, and minimum standards of practice for pharmacy technicians.

I guess that it’s human nature to only react after there is a tragedy. Do we really need to wait for a tragedy like this to happen in all of the states that still currently have no standards of practice? I sure hope not!

As you can imagine, the various requirements and differences across state lines creates confusion, inconsistency, and problems for both organizations and pharmacy technicians.

PTCB

The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board provides a nationally recognized exam to measure competency for pharmacy technicians. Once a technician achieves certification, they, like practicing pharmacists, must also obtain continuing educations credits to keep their skills up to date and relevant. Pharmacy technicians that have received certification from PTCB are required to complete 20 hours of continuing educations every 2 years.

Certification (CPhT) is achieved by passing a nation exam administered by PTCB. The exam covers a wide variety of subject matter, all of which would be included in the daily tasks of a pharmacy technician.

RxTOOLKIT in Action

We, at RxTOOLKIT, see the lack of standardization and training for pharmacy technicians as a significant patient safety issue and have made the decision to act.

RxTOOLKIT eLEARNING™ was developed in direct response to these observations. Our mission is to provide specialized online training with both clinical and operational focus to increase safety, expand competency, boost confidence, and ensure successful patient outcomes.

RxTOOLKIT eLEARNING™ has also recently partnered with TRC Healthcare (Authors of Pharmacist’s Letter and Pharmacy Technician’s Letter) in advancement of Pharmacy Technicians University (PTU). This online competency‐based curriculum provides all of the tools and information needed to prepare techs for the job and the national certification exam. Pharmacy Technicians University meets or exceeds requirements for technician training in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Our goal is to increase the pool of qualified pharmacy technicians as all states move toward certification. We do this for all the reasons I’ve articulated in this post. It is a complex and extremely important job and we need qualified pharmacy technicians!

Want to get involved?

Are you a pharmacy technician or a pharmacist that knows a really awesome tech? We invite you to share your story for publication on this blog! Please submit post ideas to: info@rxtoolkit.com.

Please make a generous donation to the Emily Jerry Foundation.

Tell someone you know about Pharmacy Technician’s University, a portion of proceeds from the sale of these courses is donated to the Emily Jerry Foundation.

For more information about RxTOOLKIT eLEARNING™ please contact elearning@rxtoolkit.com or visit RxTOOLKITeLEARNING.com.

 

The Vital Role of Pharmacy Technicians — Chris Jerry, of the Emily Jerry Foundation

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The following post was written by Chris Jerry of the Emily Jerry Foundation. Chris tragically lost his daughter as a result of a preventable medical error made by a pharmacy technician. We are grateful to Chris for his courage in sharing his story as well as for the work he is doing to bring light to this important issue.

Before the loss of my beautiful daughter, Emily, to a tragic preventable medication error in 2006, like most people, I had no knowledge of the vital role that all pharmacy technicians play with respect to safe pharmacy practice. Shortly after Emily’s death, I decided to establish the Emily Jerry Foundation (EJF), in an effort to create awareness about preventable medical errors as well as to be an active part of the overall solution in preventing them.

I reached out to my friend Michael Cohen, from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), to help explain the overall function and responsibilities of a pharmacy technician. Michael imparted some words of wisdom by sharing an analogy that really hit home with me, one that I will never forget.

He said, “Chris, always think of pharmacy technicians as being the “team” and the supervising pharmacists as being the “coaches” in any pharmacy setting.” He went on to say, “What coaches wouldn’t want to have the best trained and most qualified team to ensure a successful and victorious season?” He then explained, that a truly “victorious season” in any pharmacy setting, can be equated to having no medication errors that actually reach a patient receiving care. That simple analogy made sense to me back then and still resonates with me today.

Due to the fact that pharmacy is really the only modality in healthcare that truly works in the background, especially in hospital pharmacy, like most people, I was naturally clueless as to the overall scope of practice that pharmacy technicians have in modern day pharmacy. For example, I had no idea that in virtually every one of our nation’s hospitals, pharmacy technicians have the important responsibility of compounding nearly ALL IV (intravenous) medications, which go directly into patient’s circulatory systems.

In addition, most states have little or no requirements in regards to pharmacy technician training or certification. On the EJF website, we have created an interactive National Pharmacy Technician Initiative and Scorecard, so you can see exactly how your state ranks.

I was absolutely horrified to learn that my little girl had died from a sterile IV compounding error, made on the part of a pharmacy technician, who did not have the proper training or core competency to know the difference between a standard bag of saline with 0.9% sodium chloride, versus hypertonic saline, which has a concentration of 23.4% sodium chloride.

Technically, my daughter tragically died as a result of being overdosed on hypertonic saline.

However, as Emily’s Dad, I feel as though what actually caused her death was a lack of understanding regarding the true importance and vital role that pharmacy technicians play on the clinical “team”, helping to ensure the best and safest possible outcome for each and every patient receiving healthcare.

This is precisely the reason why I feel so strongly that pharmacy technician training is a matter of life and death for all of us! As every single one of us will receive healthcare at some time over the course of our lifetimes.

Above all else, well trained, competent, and reliable pharmacy technicians can drastically reduce any facility’s overall medication error rate. We must fully support technician training and certification, and never ever forget the vital role that technicians play; there are countless lives at stake!

 

For more information about Chris Jerry and the Emily Jerry Foundation please visit: https://emilyjerryfoundation.org/

For more information on Pharmacy Technicians University or to enroll please contact elearning@rxtoolkit.com or visit https://rxtoolkitelearning.com/ptu/