Relationship between regulatory barriers to entry and pharmacy technician wages

Urick, Benjamin Y.; Mattingly, T. Joseph; Mattingly, Ashlee N.

doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2019.05.003

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Yet, what has been asked of pharmacy technicians in terms of expanded job roles [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and regulatory requirements [21][22][23] has increased over this time. While one would expect to see positive wage premiums as a result of these increases in job roles and requirements, this was not observed in our analysis, and is consistent with the findings of other researchers [21,22]. Pharmacy technicians in the United States also have not experienced wage changes in the manner of those experienced by pharmacists, who experienced relatively large positive wage premiums in the late 1990s through the late 2000s [29].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Desselle and Holmes conducted a National Certified Pharmacy Technician Workforce Survey in 2015 which described various aspects of their working conditions, including a finding that over one in four certified pharmacy technicians (26.6%) were "highly dissatisfied" with their wages [20]. Urick and colleagues noted that while many US states adopted additional barriers to entry to working as a pharmacy technician between 1997 and 2017, such as registration with a state entity and national certification requirements, these barriers were not associated with any changes in pharmacy technician wages [21]. Mattingly and Mattingly also found that that were no significant differences in pharmacy technician wages in 2016 based on the degree of regulation of pharmacy technician practice in that state or the cost of living in a state as measured by the salary housing index [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wage Premiums as a Means to Evaluate the Labor Market for Pharmacy Technicians in the United States: 1997–2018

2020

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Pharmacy technicians are integral members of the health care team, assisting pharmacists and other health professionals in assuring safe and effective medication use. To date, evaluation of the labor market for pharmacy technicians has been limited, and relatively little has been evaluated regarding trends in wages. The objective of this research is to use US Bureau of Labor Statistics (US BLS) data to evaluate changes in pharmacy technician wages in the United States from 1997 to 2018 relative to changes in the US consumer price index (CPI). Median hourly wages for pharmacy technicians were collected from US BLS data from 1997 to 2018. Median hourly wages were compared to expected hourly wages, with the difference, a wage premium, indicative of imbalances in the supply and demand of labor. Both positive and negative wage premiums were observed, with most positive wage premiums occurring prior to 2007 and most negative wage premiums observed after 2008. Differences in wage premiums were also observed between technicians working in various practice settings. Given the median length of employment of pharmacy technicians, it is likely that the majority of technicians working in US pharmacies have not experienced increases in their wages relative to what would be expected by changes in the CPI. This has occurred at a time when pharmacies and pharmacists are asking more of their pharmacy technicians. Researchers and pharmacy managers must continue to evaluate the pharmacy technician labor market to assure that technician wage and compensation levels attract an adequate supply of sufficiently skilled workers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wage Premiums as a Means to Evaluate the Labor Market for Pharmacy Technicians in the United States: 1997–2018

2020

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“…Opportunities also remain for technicians to become certified, and some jobs preferred or required this additional training [1,13]. However, the benefits of completing additional training for technicians may not yet be balanced with the costs of obtaining it [18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data show that 12.3% (N = 2583) of pharmacy technicians are required to have standard certifications in pharmacy technician work such as PTCB and exCPT. Many states have a requirement that pharmacy technicians get certified either through these routes or through a standardized exam with similar content within a year of hiring, but there is little standardization across the board for these exams [ 17 , 18 ]. On multiple occasions, calls for standard national training and certification processes have been made, and it is clear that multiple organizations find it crucial to have this kind of a standard for certified pharmacy technicians [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Description of Position Ads for Pharmacy Technicians

et al. 2020

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Pharmacy technician roles are evolving alongside the changing role of a pharmacist. There is currently no uniform definition of a pharmacy technician’s role in the pharmacy workforce. The objective of this study was to look at the United States-based pharmacy technician advertisement database from Pharmacy Week to find patterns and commonalities in the duties and qualifications of pharmacy technicians. A retrospective analysis was performed on fourteen days of pharmacy technician job listings from Pharmacy Week from the year 2018. Information obtained from the listings included job title, location, setting, type of job, job duties, and job requirements. Job duties and requirements were coded by themes. Fourteen days of data resulted in 21,007 individual position listings. A majority of the job listings were for full-time positions (96.4%) and most were in the retail setting (96.78%). The most common requirements were registration with State Board, high school diploma, ability to perform tasks, communication, and physical. The most common job duties were general office etiquette, performing tasks under the direct supervision of the pharmacist, and professionalism. This study provides a description of the evolving role of pharmacy technicians through the broad variety in expectations for requirements of pharmacy technician applicants and the duties they perform when hired.

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