Success in the pharmacy profession requires more than scientific achievement and technical ability.

Although pharmacy education has historically concentrated on scientific knowledge, pharmacists and other pharmacy personnel must display essential soft skills.

 In a health care environment that is increasingly focused on patient-centered care, pharmacies that excel in adaptability, communication, empathy, and teamwork have the potential to achieve better operational and patient outcomes, decrease errors, and improve relationships with coworkers, patients, and providers. Continuing education and training opportunities can improve these soft skills, which can in turn advance a care provider’s career as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician (tech) and improve the overall practice.

It is important for pharmacists and pharmacy team members, such as techs, to hone their communication skills, as the interactions they have every day can affect the patient experience and outcomes. This includes communication with not only patients but also colleagues and providers.

Patient-provider conversations are powerful, and if done effectively they can improve patients’ use of medications and ensure optimal therapeutic outcomes.

 Through patient counseling and education, pharmacists can improve adherence,

 but it is important to understand that the relationship is collaborative. Tactics such as motivational interviewing can help pharmacy professionals gather the patient information they need to provide better drug therapy and help individuals achieve their health goals.

To gain a better understanding of a patient’s background and care, it is also vital that the health care professionals who prescribe medications and therapies and the pharmacy team are having meaningful communications. Research shows that effective pharmacist-provider communication can prevent medical errors, promote patient safety, and reduce costs.

 Unfortunately, many pharmacists have admitted they lack confidence in communicating with physicians and other health care providers,

 and the results of a recent survey showed that only one-fourth of primary care physicians had much personal contact with pharmacists.

 Written communication is most common, but the phone and, when possible, face-to-face interactions can provide better opportunities for collaboration.

The interactions that happen most frequently in a pharmacy are among pharmacy team members, such as interns, pharmacists, and techs. In an environment that encourages open communication, individuals can report errors without fear and present ideas to improve efficiencies and processes.

Having empathy or understanding a patient’s concerns and perspective is essential to providing quality care. Clinical empathy allows pharmacy professionals to converse with patients about their feelings and thoughts concerning their medication(s) and helps them understand key prescription information about insurance and payment. This can help identify ongoing pharmaceutical problems and help patients get the most from their treatment and overall experience.

 Acknowledging concerns, active listening, and establishing a shared understanding demonstrate empathy, and pharmacy professionals can learn these skills.

Empathy becomes especially important to improving care regarding patients with behavioral disorders, such as addiction and mental illness. Research shows that pharmacists are very knowledgeable about mental illness and management options, but there are also high levels of stigma in the profession, including a desire to socially distance and discomfort when treating patients with mental illness.

 By improving their empathy skills, pharmacy professionals can help create a comfortable environment and provide improved care to all patients. Seeing, understanding, and treating those with behavioral disorders help pharmacy professionals realize how much their counsel and prescription means to patients.

Advances in regulation, education, and training; innovative models of care; and new technology have created a new scope of practice in the pharmacy. As pharmacies expand their offerings, the roles of pharmacists and techs are also growing. Consider that for techs, 90% of employers now encourage or require certification, and 40% report that techs have more responsibility this year compared with last,

 demonstrating the need for advanced skills. Additionally, the results of a survey of pharmacy employers showed that techs’ “ability to adapt to practice change” was the third-most-important factor in making hiring decisions, just below training and emotional intelligence.

Adaptability and change have been in pharmacy professionals’ DNA since perhaps the beginning of the practice. In a professional pharmacy publication dating back to 1888, author John Humphrey discussed the importance of adaptability

“There must exist a willingness to change whenever due cause is shown. Our minds must remain plastic…we see around us, both near at hand and far off, evidence of the increasing determination of pharmacists to unceasingly endeavor to adapt themselves to circumstances, much as these may change.” 

Change is constant, especially in the world of pharmacy, and to elevate a pharmacy career, techs must be willing to adapt, grow, and learn as the practice evolves.

Pharmacists and techs work in close quarters and often busy conditions. They are also in communication with providers. Although each professional plays an essential role, working together as a cohesive team is important and can yield the best results.

Teamwork requires mutual respect and trust, from the bottom up and the top down. It also requires that everyone be on the same page, with every team member willing to pitch in when needed. Failing to do so can potentially reduce morale. For example, if a tech is working hard and sees a pharmacist not pulling his or her weight, the tech may be likely to slow down and could even take out their frustration on customers. Likewise, pharmacists may be less likely to entrust advanced tasks to techs who underperform.

Members of high-functioning teams collaborate, feel safe asking questions, trust each member, and are willing to support one another. It is an age-old rule, but it holds true: We can achieve more together than we can on our own. 

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Desselle SP, Hohmeier KC, McKeirnan KC. The value and potential integration of pharmacy technician national certification into processes that help assure a competent workforce. 

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Articles

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Clinical knowledge is essential, but soft skills are also critical in patient-centered care.

Master These Abilities to Elevate a Pharmacy Career

Pharmacies are playing a major role in the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, perhaps in part because of to their accessibility. Ninety percent of Americans live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy,

 which makes pharmacists and pharmacy technicians (techs) among the country’s most accessible health care professionals.

As the pharmacists’ role is elevated to help combat the coronavirus, so too is the techs’. Some changes in responsibilities are already taking place, and it is likely that these will expand and eventually become permanent.

Here are 5 predictions based on trends that show how the role of techs could forever be changed by COVID-19.

1. Increased drive-through COVID19 testing at pharmacies could mean more techs administering tests.

 Many states now allow pharmacists to administer point-of-care testing for acute illnesses and chronic conditions. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, more states have removed barriers to allow pharmacies to administer tests for the virus.

 Large retail pharmacies, such as CVS, Health Mart, Kroger, Rite Aid, and Walmart, have already established drivethrough testing sites at select locations. If these sites are successful, it is likely that we will see even more testing performed at pharmacies across the country, amplifying the need for techs to help perform the vital COVID-19 test.

 More states are allowing pharmacists and techs to administer vaccinations. In 2013, an additional 4.1 million adults were vaccinated at pharmacies, and the odds that an adult would receive the influenza shot at pharmacies increased by 7.8% in states that allowed for it.

 When a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is released, an all-hands-on-deck approach will be required to ensure that Americans get vaccinated. This increase in demand is likely to encourage more states to empower licensed techs to administer vaccinations, according to Lorri Walmsley, RPh, FAzPA, director of pharmacy affairs at Walgreens in Phoenix, Arizona.

“As we anticipate the call for the large-scale, expedited administration of COVID-19 vaccinations, enabling technicians to administer immunizations under appropriate supervision and conditions has the potential to save lives and accelerate the nation’s recovery from the pandemic,” she said. “Expanding the ability to have trained technicians also administer immunizations will allow pharmacists to spend more time providing high-quality pharmacy care to our patients.”

3. The fast-tracked push to elevate the tech role will continue. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the important role pharmacists and technicians play in supporting the health of communities across the nation,” Walmsley said. “While many states have recognized this through recent actions to expand technician scope of practice and increase or eliminate technician-to-pharmacist ratio requirements, there is still more to be done to enable technicians to practice at the top of their capabilities and provide patients with an additional point of access to the health care system.”

The role of the tech has been slowly expanding in recent years, and it is likely the pandemic will accelerate that growth. More states have granted provider status to pharmacists, which also elevates techs’ role.

“COVID-19 has forced pharmacies to turn the corner and become a clinical epicenter for patient care, and it is evident that without advancing the pharmacy technician, this is not possible,” said Adam Chesler, director of regulatory affairs at Cardinal Health in Dallas, Texas. “COVID-19 has unveiled the curtain on the impact a pharmacist can have on patient care, but it also showed the only way pharmacists can succeed in the clinical world is with empowered technicians: taking patients’ blood pressure [and other] vitals, administering immunizations, and maintaining the product workflow in a pharmacy.”

4. Telehealth and the ability to work across state lines will become more common. 

In a joint set of policy recommendations published by major pharmacy organizations in response to COVID-19, one recommendation was to reduce operational barriers.

 By allowing pharmacists and techs with valid credentials to operate across state lines, this would open the door to telehealth. Additionally, techs could perform some tasks remotely, including entering orders and practicing telepharmacy under supervision.

Telehealth has been propelled forward during the pandemic to reduce unnecessary in-person visits and therefore reduce the virus spread. Pharmacies must adapt to this advancement in providing their services remotely and be prepared to receive prescriptions from telehealth appointments. According to Chesler, remote work is becoming standard practice, and now that it is here, it is likely to stay.

5. Technician training and certification classes will move online.

 The rapid shift to remote learning as schools stopped in-person classes was difficult for many colleges and training centers throughout the country. But for some schools, such as Pensacola State College in Florida, the transition was smooth because there was not much to change. More classes were already shifting to an online format, according to Julie Burger, MPH, CPH, CHES, CPhT, director of the college’s Pharmacy Technician Program.

“We have always tried to ensure our program allowed for flexibility with online learning, so many of our assignments were delivered in a hybrid format and did not require much modification, if any,” she said.

The program’s state-of-the-art simulation lab allows students to experience the closest thing to hands-on learning while in a remote setting. The use of simulation technology in health care education was already becoming more common,

 and the trend will likely continue, perhaps even more so in response to COVID-19.

In addition to schools, testing centers that proctor tech certification exams have been closed because of the pandemic. In response, the National Healthcareer Association (NHA), which administers the ExCPT certification exam, has implemented live remote proctoring that allows candidates to take their certification exams from home.

 This has been approved for a temporary period by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), which accredits the NHA’s certification exams.

“It’s NHA’s hope that upon NCCA reviewing the data from this temporary period, live remote proctoring [LRP] will gain permanent approval and provide our candidates with another option,” said Jeremy Sasser, a pharmacy content strategist at the NHA. “I believe candidates will continue to embrace the use of LRP, even when testing centers are reopened,” he continued. “Even though there are a lot of testing centers around the United States, there are still many geographical areas where candidates have to travel long distances from where they live or work in order to utilize a proctor site.”

Pharmacists as front-line responders for COVID-19 patient care. American Pharmacists Association. March 20, 2020. Accessed July 17, 2020. https:// www.pharmacist.com/sites/default/files/files/APHA%20Meeting%20Update/ PHARMACISTS_COVID19-Final-3-20-20.pdf

Gebhart F. States slowly ease barriers to pharmacist-provided COVID-19 testing. 

®. June 4, 2020. Accessed July 17, 2020. https://www.drugtopics. com/latest/states-slowly-ease-barriers-pharmacist-provided-covid-19-testing

Aebersold M. Simulation-based learning: no longer a novelty in undergraduate education. 

. 2018;23(2). doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No02PPT39

Live remote proctoring now available for the ExCPT pharmacy tech certification exam. 

®. May 26, 2020. Accessed July 17, 2020. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/live-remote-proctoring-now-available-for-the-excpt-pharmacy-tech-certification-exam

Here are 5 ways their responsibilities could change because of COVID-19.

Techs’ Role Expands Amid Pandemic

When most pharmacy students begin their internships, it is typically their first time behind a pharmacy counter. But for individuals like Miranda Jandreau and Cody Moller, 2 pharmacy students from Husson University School of Pharmacy in Bangor, Maine, it is a very familiar place.

Both Jandreau and Moller worked as pharmacy technicians (techs) before deciding to pursue the PharmD degree. Their experiences as techs and interns, and eventually as pharmacists, give them a 360-degree view into the inner workings of a pharmacy. How will that perspective affect how they collaborate with, interact with, and manage techs now and in the future? Here are some of their unique insights (originally shared on the National Healthcareer Association’s 

 ) that anyone managing up and down within a pharmacy can learn from.

 Pharmacies can be busy and hectic environments, regardless of whether they are the hospital, independent community, or large chain variety. Many pharmacies fill 1000 or more prescriptions per week. When things get hectic, teamwork becomes especially important and everyone needs to pitch in. There will be some overlap in roles, as employees cannot work in silos.

“I’ll roll up my sleeves and take out the trash,” said Moller, an intern in his final year of pharmacy school.

“There’s no work that I think, at least in my position, is segmented or sequestered off that’s not mine to do,” he said. “If it needs to get done, I will get it done.”

Flexibility is important, and Moller thinks that no team member should believe they are above doing something trivial, such as taking out the trash.

“I always prefer to think I’m working alongside all team members,” he said.

Break down barriers and create efficiencies by understanding roles. 

It is important to understand what the individual in each role—intern, pharmacist, and tech&mdash;knows and does not know and their scope of practice and training. “I often think that some of the best pharmacists are the ones [who] have gone through being a technician and [are] working their way up that ladder, because they know what to expect and what is expected of them before they reach that PharmD or pharmacist status,” said Jandreau, a second-year pharmacy student. “The technicians, especially the ones I work with, are very knowledgeable in the aspect of pharmacy, even though they may not have the academic background in it,” she said. “I have the confidence to go to them to answer my questions, which is something that makes me feel [assured] as an intern currently. …Also, as a progressing pharmacy student, once I get there, [I know that I [will be] able to [entrust the pharmacy technicians with more activities.]

Formerly, being a tech required having only a high school diploma or equivalent, but as roles have expanded, that has drastically changed.

 Today, 90% of pharmacies encourage or require certification, up from 70% just 2 years ago.

 These professionals have more skills and training than ever before, which can help alleviate some of the pharmacist’s load and allow for expanded duties and responsibilities.

Strong pharmacy relationships are built on trust.

 Relationships matter among interns, pharmacists, and techs. All team members should feel secure about bringing up their mistakes, ideas for improvement, and questions without feeling concerned about being disregarded or reprimanded. An environment that encourages open communication is vital.

“Being able to bring ideas forward, no matter who you are [or] what position you have…is really important in any type of pharmacy or any work environment,” Jandreau said.

“If I feel comfortable discussing any matter with you, and I make it very clear that I’m OK to receive feedback and criticism from you, the technician. I think that goes a long way,” Moller said.

Jandreau’s and Moller’s journey up the pharmacy career ladder offers lessons. They understand through their experiences in each role just how critical every team member is and how important it is that they all work together cohesively.

A strong pharmacy team is more important than ever as pharmacies are experiencing 2 related factors: the addition of tasks, such as immunizations and reconciliations, and the fact that half of pharmacists are at risk of burnout.

 The key attributes that Jandreau and Moller share, such as communication, teamwork, trust, and understanding, can help lead to a better, more efficient pharmacy. Techs then feel empowered to work to the best of their ability and can take on greater responsibilities, pharmacists can free up time for more patient interaction, and everyone inside the pharmacy, including patients, can have a better overall experience.  

Sasser J. OnScript Podcast. Episode 9: building relationships in the pharmacy. July 2020. Accessed July 17, 2020. https://info.nhanow.com/learningleading-blog/episode-9-building-relationships-in-the-pharmacy

Survey results show employers increasingly require or encourage certification for allied health professionals. News release. National Healthcareer Association. May 21, 2019. Accessed July 17, 2020. https://info.nhanow.com/mediacenter/ topic/access-2019

2020 industry outlook: trends impacting allied health professionals. National Healthcareer Association. July 2020. Accessed July 17, 2020. https://info.nhanow. com/learning-leading-blog/2020-industry-outlook

Durham ME, Bush PW, Ball AM. Evidence of burnout in health-system pharmacists. 

. 2018;75(23)(suppl 4):S93-S100. doi:10.2146/ ajhp170818

Their perspective influences their ability to manage both up and down in the pharmacy.

Two Former Techs Turning PharmD Provide Insights

In February 2020, Netflix released a documentary series depicting the early years of what is now known as the opioid epidemic.

 follows a journey that is familiar to many working in pharmacies across the United States. The story is told through the eyes of Louisiana pharmacist Dan Schneider, who begins noticing increased opioid use, misuse, and the first mass opioid—dispensing clinics now commonly referred to as pill mills. Like many who work in community pharmacy, he wants to do something to halt its spread but feels powerless to make an impact.

A driving factor for Schneider is the loss of his son in a drug-related shooting. This personal connection to addiction allows him to see his patients in a unique light. Schneider views each individual walking through his door as his son, daughter, or other loved one and consequently warns each of his patients about the dangers of opioids and provides them with resources.

The opioid epidemic continues to affect American communities at staggering rates. Since 1999, it has been a constant subject of newspaper headlines, on social media, and on television, with about half a million opioid-related deaths.

Perhaps no other health care workers have been exposed to this epidemic more frequently than pharmacists and pharmacy technicians (techs). Like the fictional Schneider, they are on the front lines and are placed almost daily in situations where they desire to do “something” but lack the ability to directly help. Because of the frequency of these encounters, pharmacists and techs often suffer from something known as compassion fatigue, the phenomenon when a care provider experiences secondary trauma from caring for someone else, which can affect job satisfaction and morale and result in decreased empathy for patients.

 Further complicating the issue is that pharmacy staff members are both patient care advocates and regulatory enforcers, and these divergent roles often put them at odds with patients.

The community pharmacy is a key link in the chain of opioid prescribing but is often overlooked, leaving pharmacists and techs wondering how and to what extent they can make an impact. Although pharmacy personnel bear witness to much of the opioid epidemic, they may not always see its whole picture. However, as new research continues to demonstrate, that whole picture is complex and often hidden, and it is directly linked to both addiction and the potential for recovery. One critical example of this is the idea of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their connection to future addiction.

 ACEs include experiencing abuse, neglect, or violence; having a family member attempt or die by suicide; and witnessing violence in the community or home.

Each additional ACE increases the likelihood of early initiation into substance use disorder 2- to 4-fold.

 And the more traumas an individual is exposed to, the greater the chance for opioid misuse.

 Similarly, hopelessness and social isolation are other hidden factors affecting opioid misuse.

 In other words, there are clear links between human suffering and opioid misuse that cannot be explained simply by genetics or neurobiology. A recent nationwide study confirmed the heterogeneity of patients who misuse opioids, including many who suffer from poor physical health.

In lieu of understanding these “hidden” indicators, pharmacy personnel are often left to draw their own conclusions about drug-seeking behavior. And they are not alone. Study results show that health care professionals’ views of the opioid epidemic are varied but often include judgmental, uncompassionate, or unsupportive perceptions, which decrease care quality and ultimately increase patient morbidity and mortality.

 Collectively, this concept is referred to as stigma and may include labeling (eg, “addicts” or “early fillers”), negative stereotypes (eg, inaccurate beliefs about individuals who misuse opioids), and othering (eg, not treating opioid use disorder [OUD] as a disease and separating these patients from others suffering from chronic diseases).

Although the subject of stigma has been well researched across various health worker professions, it had yet to be researched among techs. To this end, investigators conducted a nationwide study involving focus groups of techs working in different areas of the US health care system and practicing in different geographic regions. This is the first pilot study conducted in the United States on this topic and is supported and sponsored by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA).

The overall goal of this research study will be to determine techs’ views, roles, facilitators, and barriers to providing care to patients with OUD. The comprehensive results of this research will directly affect future education efforts and assist in achieving NHA’s mission and vision: to develop, advance, and advocate for the frontline tech, resulting in improved patient care.

Although the study is ongoing, early results have shown a couple of key concepts. When describing interactions with patients suspected of opioid misuse, participants noted features of appearance or behaviors that may be viewed as stigmatizing. Words such as agitated and dirty were used to describe the appearance of patients who were suspected of opioid misuse. However, participants also discussed methods that could potentially overcome the impact of such stigmatizing views. These include counseling on opioid risks and alternatives by pharmacists; providing patient resources; and using nonjudgmental language when discussing patients with other pharmacy staff members.

The finding that stigma was present among techs was not abnormal and does not represent a state of permanence. There are steps that techs can take right away to improve care for patients with OUD. These include:

assisting pharmacists with the use of prescription drug monitoring programs,

modeling and promoting a culture of understanding and empathy toward patients suspected as having or who do have OUD,

promoting naloxone codispensing when legally allowable, and

providing resources for recovery and treatment.

Above all, the importance of compassion and support for patients cannot be overstated. Given the scientific evidence on emotional trauma, hopelessness, and social isolation as risk factors for addiction, how much more harm could pharmacy personnel—based stigma cause? For Schneider, it was the loss of a son that set him on his journey to give patients that compassion and support. Perhaps these initial study results on stigma may serve to do the same for techs across the United States. 

, is an associate professor of clinical pharmacy and translational science and director of community affairs in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Nashville.

 is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

, is a professor of social and behavioral pharmacy at Touro University California College of Pharmacy in Vallejo and president of Applied Pharmacy Solutions.

Understanding the epidemic. CDC. Updated March 19, 2020. Accessed July 14, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html

Annual surveillance report of drug-related risks and outcomes: United States, 2019. CDC. Accessed July 14, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/ pubs/2019-cdc-drug-surveillance-report.pdf

Wilson N, Kariisa M, Seth P, Smith H IV, Davis NL. Drug and opioidinvolved overdose deaths—United States, 2017-2018. 

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Winstanley EL. The bell tolls for thee & thine: compassion fatigue & the overdose epidemic. 

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Dube SR, Felitti VJ, Dong M, Chapman DP, Giles WH, Anda RF. Childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction and the risk of illicit drug use: the adverse childhood experiences study. 

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Wakeman SE, Rich JD. Barriers to medications for addiction treatment: how stigma kills. 

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Given the evidence of emotional trauma, hopelessness, and social isolation as risk factors for addiction, compassion and support are critical.

Help Patients Using Opioids Avoid Stigma

I had the privilege a few years ago to be the program director for a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services demonstration project that sought to pay pharmacies for incorporating care management functions into pharmacy workflow in coordination with primary care across hundreds of pharmacies for a per-member, per-month payment. These days, such types of programs and arrangements with payers are commonplace with medical providers but are only now reaching the shores of community pharmacy practice.

Value-based contracting puts pharmacy providers at risk and reward for screening patients, getting patients to therapeutic goals, and reducing the overall cost of care. It is the future of health care and the only viable path to sustainable community-based pharmacy practice.

One day, I received a call from a pharmacy owner who said, “I get this. It makes sense. I want to do it, and I believe it is the direction we need to go in, but I just do not have the time.”

I responded, “Tell me where you feel like you are spending most of your time.”

He said, “Well, when I call these patients to check in on them—”

I stopped him right there and said, “Time out. You are calling the patient? You need to train one of your staff to do that and then triage to you when they need you.”

PHYSICIAN PRACTICE TRANSFORMATION = PHARMACY PRACTICE TRANSFORMATION 

I spent the first 15 years of my career building pharmacy supports around the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) concept, and what I, and the physicians, learned is that clinicians cannot and should not do it all. Pharmacies must have a strong support staff that optimizes pharmacists’ time. Physicians do not reach out to patients to get them scheduled or generally call patients to report an unremarkable lab finding. Nor do they take a medication history or room the patient, and they do not deal with services billing. Why would pharmacists take on these roles?

I have also had the privilege over the past year of directing the Community Pharmacy Foundation— supported Flip the Pharmacy effort, which is intended to be a practice transformation effort akin to the PCMH movement in primary care.The overall goal is to move business and work processes and the skills that go with them from moment-in-time, prescription-level processes to an emphasis on longitudinal, patient-level processes over multiple points in time. One of the 6 domains of emphasis is training and using staff members in a different manner and having different expectations about their daily work.

Pharmacies should ban the term and title 

. Technicians put pills in bottles. A pharmacy’s staff requires much more. The term is also unbecoming and misrepresents their value to the pharmacy. At Community Care of North Carolina, we had pharmacy program assistants, formerly called techs, help take medication histories and coordinate communications between care team members for care management functions. Other pharmacies should pivot too.

There are plenty of important and new roles a “pharmacist extender” staff member can train in and employ in a pharmacy.

Community health worker/social needs expert

: Is the pharmacy’s delivery driver being used effectively?

: runs reports in the pharmacy management system on opioid use and outliers or patients without recorded blood pressure

: ensures that all touch points can be parlayed into improving value-based contracting measures, such as glycated hemoglobin screenings, noninfluenza vaccinations, and even colonoscopy reminders

: Pharmacies that do not have one may have programs that do not work.

: calls patients with low adherence and asks what their barriers are

: builds out and reports to the pharmacy manager on, for example, coronavirus disease 2019 testing

Just like physicians, pharmacists cannot and should not do it all. “Techs” want to help. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

, is vice president for pharmacy provider partnerships for Community Care of North Carolina, which works collaboratively with more than 1800 medical practices to serve more than 1.6 million Medicaid, Medicare, commercially insured, and uninsured patients. He received his PharmD and MBA degrees from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and a PhD in pharmaceutical outcomes and policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also serves on the board of directors for the American Pharmacists Association Foundation and the Pharmacy Quality Alliance

Flip the pharmacy. Flip the Pharmacy. Accessed July 28, 2020. https://www.flipthepharmacy.com/

Rethinking staff roles and training is essential to positive transformation in the industry.

Let’s Ban the Term ‘Pharmacy Technician’

For many patients, the pharmacy may be the first and last stop in their care.

Patients consult with pharmacy staff members more than any other health care professionals,

 showed that Americans trust pharmacy professionals as much as they do medical doctors. Pharmacy technicians play a vital role in building trust with patients, which starts long before they arrive to pick up prescriptions. Pharmacies can optimize the role of the technician, delegating many tasks that would otherwise fall on pharmacists’ shoulders. That means that pharmacists can focus on the clinical aspects of their roles, which is how most prefer to practice.

 By encouraging technicians to work to the limits of their certifications, pharmacies can reduce burnout among pharmacists, a critical problem in the industry.

To raise continued awareness about the important role of techs, the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) and 

® partnered to deliver this first publication dedicated specifically to key topics pertinent to pharmacy technicians nationwide. Our hope is that this publication encourages technicians and their employers to recognize and support expanding the tech role to create a fulfilling career journey and more efficiencies in the pharmacy.

® would like to also thank technicians for their relentless dedication and spirit in supporting colleagues and patients who have been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019. It is inspiring to see the care, collaboration, and generosity that the pharmacy industry has provided. We want to acknowledge that they are making a difference, and we appreciate everything they have done and will continue to do. 

, is executive vice president, Pharmacy Advocacy, for MJH Life Sciences

, is executive director of education and advocacy for National Healthcareer Association.

Moose J, Branham A. Pharmacists as influencers of patient adherence. Pharmacy Times®. August 21, 2014. Accessed July 27, 2020. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/Directionsin-Pharmacy/2014/August2014/Pharmacists-as-Influencers-ofPatient-Adherence

Norman J. Americans rate healthcare providers on honesty, ethics. Gallup. December 18, 2016. Accessed July 27, 2020. https://news.gallup.com/poll/200057/americans-rate-healthcare-providers-high-honesty-ethics.aspx

Traynor K. Pharmacy directors say technicians are valuable investment. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. May 5, 2017. Accessed July 27, 2020. https://www.ashp.org/ news/2017/05/05/pharmacy-directors-say-technicians-are-valuable-investment?loginreturnUrl=SSOCheckOnly

Marotta R. Pharmacists are happy with their salaries, less so with their jobs, survey shows (part 2). 

®. February 12, 2019. Accessed July 29, 2020. https://www.pharmacytimes. com/news/pharmacists-are-happy-with-their-salaries-less-sowith-their-jobs-survey-shows-part-2

The authors welcome readers to the first publication, by partnernship of the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) and Pharmacy Times®, dedicated to key topics pertinent to pharmacy technicians.

Pharmacy Technician Edition October 2020

Master These Abilities to Elevate a Pharmacy Career

Techs’ Role Expands Amid Pandemic

Two Former Techs Turning PharmD Provide Insights

Help Patients Using Opioids Avoid Stigma

Let’s Ban the Term ‘Pharmacy Technician’

Optimize the Technician’s Role to Expand Health Care to Patients