Pharmacy Technicians Are People, Too! Let’s Consider Their Personal Outcomes Along With Other Pharmacy Outcomes

Abstract

Studies have found that expanded pharmacy technician roles can help “free up” pharmacist time, leading to role optimization. However, these studies and the positions taken by many are quite pharmacist-centric. We seem to have underestimated the importance of support staff in pharmacy operations. If research demonstrates that technicians can perform a function safely and effectively, that alone should compel the function’s allowance in practice. Freeing up pharmacist time for higher-order care is a positive corollary to technician advancement, but it need not be a precondition for it.

Extending COVID-19 Pharmacy Technician Duties: Impact on Safety and Pharmacist Jobs

“…Debates on the proper role of pharmacy technicians have historically been pharmacist-centric. 37 Thus, while safety alone should be the decision point that states use as the basis for expanding technician duties, concerns about pharmacist jobs often underpin such debates. Thus, the absence of statewide data that suggest Idaho pharmacist jobs have been diminished in the time period after adoption of expanded technician duties should provide additional mental comfort to state policymakers.…”