Implementation of a pharmacy technician–centered medication reconciliation program at an urban teaching medical center

Sen, Sanchita; Siemianowski, Laura A.; Murphy, Michelle M.; McAllister, Susan Coutinho

doi:10.2146/ajhp130073

Cited by 38 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…After significant investments in their training, keeping such personnel engaged and advancing will be essential to retention. Technicians engaged in medication reconciliation have reported relief from repetitive dispensing tasks . Authors of recent workforce surveys suggest that technicians are responsive to assuming increased responsibility .…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best practices: Incorporating pharmacy technicians and other support personnel into the clinical pharmacist's process of care

Borchert

Phillips

Bastin

et al. 2018

J Am Coll Clin Pharm

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changes to the U.S. health care landscape have increased the focus on the quality and use of alternative payment models, with a growing focus on value. As health care costs continue to rise, clinical pharmacists will increasingly engage in roles to expand the breadth and depth of clinical services in providing comprehensive medication management (CMM) to improve patient outcomes. The roles of pharmacy technicians and other support personnel must evolve to meet the needs created by this practice change and allow pharmacists to focus their services on activities that use their expertise to improve medication outcomes. Support personnel, including pharmacy technicians, should be identified to assist with clinical pharmacy tasks on the basis of their skills. To ensure competence, support personnel should be adequately trained and (if applicable) certified. Moreover, support personnel should be optimally incorporated into appropriate components of the clinical pharmacist's process of care to expand the reach and depth of clinical pharmacy services. When supervised by the pharmacist or others as defined in state practice acts, support personnel may be able to assist in the clinical pharmacist's provision of CMM. Finally, research should be conducted and disseminated on the utility and outcomes achieved using support personnel in the clinical pharmacist's process of care.

show abstract

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best practices: Incorporating pharmacy technicians and other support personnel into the clinical pharmacist's process of care

Borchert

Phillips

Bastin

et al. 2018

J Am Coll Clin Pharm

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They were not included in this review because they focused on workflow process measures, 26 such as whether all the medications listed had a name, dose, and frequency, or contained limited information on how the quality of the pharmacy technician's work was assessed. [27][28][29] Considering all reports of pharmacy technician engagement, several best practices emerged: (a) creating a standardized process for collection of the medication history and defining a specific patient populations, 14,15,21,24,25,27,28 (b) choosing pharmacy technicians with past experience in hospital and community pharmacy settings as well as those who demonstrate good interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills, 16,17,25,27 (c) having pharmacy technicians who are dedicated to medication reconciliation efforts, 16,17,[27][28][29] (d) educating the hospital staff regarding the new process and how it may impact and improve their current workflows as well as patient safety, 24,28 and (e) establishing an internal training program for technicians in these roles led by pharmacists and/or experienced pharmacy technicians. Training programs generally included an education component (either didactic or through background reading and discussion), training on how to complete medication reconciliation or compile a BPMH, observation of a medication reconciliation interview completed by a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, practice or completion of a medication reconciliation interview while being observed, and finally a competency assessment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanded Roles for Pharmacy Technicians in the Medication Reconciliation Process: A Qualitative Review

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A ccording to the Institute of Medicine, the average hospitalized patient experiences at least one medication error per day.1 It is further estimated that 67% of admitted patients have at least one error in their medication history, with 11% to 59% of those classified as clinically important.2 At a cost of $2,595 to $4,685 per adverse drug event (ADEs), the total costs attributable to ADEs have been estimated to exceed $5 million annually for a typical teaching hospital. 3Findings from these studies as well as others have led the health care community, professional organizations, and regulatory entities to demand more structured processes for comparing medication histories and resolving discrepancies during care transitions. [4][5][6] A key component to medication reconciliation is the creation of the best possible medication history (BPMH). The BPMH uses information gathered from the community pharmacy, medical record, structured ABSTRACT Background: Collection of a complete and accurate medication history is an essential component of the medication reconciliation process. The role of pharmacy technicians in supporting medication reconciliation has been the subject of recent interest. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to review the existing literature on pharmacy technician involvement in the medication reconciliation process and to summarize outcomes on the quality and accuracy of pharmacy technician-collected medication histories. Method: A literature review was conducted using MEDLINE and Academic Search Premier (1948( -April 2015. Results: Sixteen papers were identified, with 12 containing a formal evaluation of outcomes. Three were purely descriptive, and 9 compared the pharmacy technician's performance to pharmacists, nurses, physicians, and/or interdisciplinary teams. Studies used a variety of endpoints, but they demonstrated similar or improved outcomes by engaging pharmacy technicians. Evidence demonstrates that trained pharmacy technicians are able to gather medication histories with similar completeness and accuracy to other health care professionals. Conclusion:The use of pharmacy technicians may be a viable strategy for developing and expanding medication reconciliation processes with appropriate supervision. Future efforts should focus on evaluating the impact of expanded roles for pharmacy technicians in the health care system; assessing the need for standardization of pharmacy technician education, training, and certification; and obtaining clarification from state pharmacy boards regarding these expanded roles.

show abstract

“…10,23,24 Live or simulated practice has been used in previous studies involving student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians collecting medication lists. 1,15–19 Training and simulation likely will be important for community pharmacy personnel if they will be tasked with collecting medication lists from patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trained student pharmacists' telephonic collection of patient medication information: Evaluation of a structured interview tool

Margolis¹,

Martin²,

Mott³

2016

Journal of the American Pharmacists Association

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective To determine the feasibility and fidelity of student pharmacists collecting patient medication list information using a structured interview tool and the accuracy of documenting the information. The medication lists were used by a community pharmacist to provide a targeted medication therapy management (MTM) intervention. Design Descriptive analysis of patient medication lists collected via telephone interviews. Participants 10 trained student pharmacists collected the medication lists. Intervention Trained student pharmacists conducted audio-recorded telephone interviews with 80 English-speaking community dwelling older adults using a structured interview tool to collect and document medication lists. Main outcome measures Feasibility was measured using the number of completed interviews, the time student pharmacists took to collect the information, and pharmacist feedback. Fidelity to the interview tool was measured by assessing student pharmacists’ adherence to asking all scripted questions and probes. Accuracy was measured by comparing the audio recorded interviews to the medication list information documented in an electronic medical record. Results On average it took student pharmacists 26.7 minutes to collect the medication lists. The community pharmacist said the medication lists were complete and that having the medication lists saved time and allowed him to focus on assessment, recommendations, and education during the targeted MTM session. Fidelity was high with an overall proportion of asked scripted probes of 83.75% (95%CI: 80.62–86.88%). Accuracy was also high for both prescription (95.1%, 95%CI: 94.3–95.8%) and non-prescription (90.5%, 95%CI: 89.4–91.4%) medications. Conclusion Trained student pharmacists were able to use an interview tool to collect and document medication lists with a high degree of fidelity and accuracy. This study suggests that student pharmacists or trained technicians may be able to collect patient medication lists to facilitate MTM sessions in the community pharmacy setting. Evaluating the sustainability of using student pharmacists or trained technicians to collect medication lists is needed.

show abstract

Implementation of a pharmacy technician–centered medication reconciliation program at an urban teaching medical center

Abstract: Based on experience, providers' perspectives, and QI data, the PTMR program is an effective method to obtain, document, and communicate accurate MR data for patients at this institution.

Cited by 38 publications

References 15 publications

Best practices: Incorporating pharmacy technicians and other support personnel into the clinical pharmacist's process of care

Best practices: Incorporating pharmacy technicians and other support personnel into the clinical pharmacist's process of care

Expanded Roles for Pharmacy Technicians in the Medication Reconciliation Process: A Qualitative Review

Trained student pharmacists' telephonic collection of patient medication information: Evaluation of a structured interview tool

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About