Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2021
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Pharmacy Administration
First Advisor
Erin Holmes
Second Advisor
Marie Barnard
Third Advisor
Jordan Ballou
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Pharmacy technicians play a crucial role in assisting pharmacists and allowing a pharmacy to function properly and provide care to patients. While technicians take on many tasks in a pharmacy, their role has started to evolve and expand. The first purpose of this study was to determine how states differ regarding the following pharmacy technician roles and requirements: whether or not technicians are licensed and/or certified, mandated technician-to-pharmacist ratio, whether or not technicians are allowed to take or give verbal prescriptions, verify filled prescriptions, and provide immunizations. The second purpose was to analyze how pharmacists across the United States viewed different aspects of pharmacy technician training and education, as well as assess how pharmacists report how pharmacy technician training and education is handled in community pharmacies throughout the United States. Pharmacy technician state regulations for licensure, certification, and tasks were collected and frequencies were determined. It was determined that a majority of states require pharmacy technicians to be licensed and a minority of states required technicians to be certified. Only a small number of states allow pharmacy technicians to give and receive verbal prescriptions, and an even smaller number of states allow technicians to check prescriptions and administer immunizations A cross-sectional, descriptive online survey was distributed to 1904 pharmacists nation-wide, with 205 complete respondents. A majority of respondents believed that pharmacy technicians should complete an education program before being eligible to take a national certification exam. Respondents were split between their pharmacy not offering to pay for a national certification exam and reimbursing the technician after they passed the exam, with a minority offering reimbursement before the exam. Respondents were also split between if their pharmacy offered an in-house education program for technicians wanting to become nationally certified. A majority of pharmacists stated there should be additional training for technicians beyond the national examinations for those who are interested. A majority of respondents had pharmacies that offer reimbursement for an education program outside of their company. Percentages of current technicians that are nationally certified were split amongst the four answers, with a majority having 75% or greater. Most pharmacists encouraged their technicians to pursue national certification and had more confidence in technicians that were nationally certified. The open-ended question at the end of the survey gained a lot of responses, including thoughts about compensation for new tasks, training and education, comfort levels, responsibilities, employee satisfaction, and opposition to additional tasks for technicians. Overall, the pharmacists who responded had positive views regarding national certification for pharmacy technicians and were open to technicians taking on more tasks, as long as education and training were adequate. This study emphasized the importance of education and training, which will be key in allowing technicians to expand their roles and pharmacists having confidence in their technicians.
Recommended Citation
Hahs, Courtney, "A Comprehensive Examination of Pharmacy Technician Requirements and Pharmacists’ Perceptions of The Role of Technicians" (2021). Honors Theses. 1596.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1596
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