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Abstract

Did you ever think you would find pharmacy in such a state of disarray? Examples of this include standardized technician training versus on-the-job training, technician licensure versus certification versus registration, accredi tation of technician training programs versus state-ap proved technician training programs, pharmacist contin uing education versus self-testing versus mandatory testing, and online dispensing versus traditional dispensing.We only need to look about three to five years down the road to see the impending "avalanche," when the prescription count will increase by approximately 44% and there will be a corresponding increase of only 6% in practicing pharmacists. How will pharmacy respond to this challenge? Pharmacy already provides more services with fewer personnel, so increasing the number of phar macists and technicians is not an essential issue. We must reassure the public during these stressful times that mini mizing errors and having a genuine concern for public safety is first and foremost in our minds. We also must find a way to think "outside the box" and accept all of the challenges the public has for us.Pharmacy must provide an expanded role for techni cians to meet this workload crisis, especially since the number of pharmacists is down. It stands to reason that some standardized training of technicians will be re quired to assure the public that their safety has not been compromised. "Standardized" is the key word. Even the training that occurs in large chain pharmacies varies from store to store and from preceptor to preceptor. Knowing that the future prescription crisis will leave pharmacists little, if any, extra time to train their techni cians on the job, we must look to outside sources for standardized training.Community colleges, vocational/technical colleges, and for-profit schools are ready to accept this challenge. Currently, most pharmacy technician programs receive some type of funding from the federal, state, or local govThe government will restrict the funding of educational programs to a defined set of criteria.ernments. These programs, however, may already be in jeopardy of closure. With the Workforce Investment Act to be implemented on July 1, the government will restrict the funding of educational programs to a defined set of criteria. Increase or withdrawal of revenue for pharmacy technician programs will, therefore, depend on a contin uous improvement in the following areas: (1) completion rates, (2) job attainment, (3) program and employment retention, (4) wage satisfaction, and (5) nontraditional program participation.As the pharmacy technician education programs at tempt to meet the goals determined by the government criteria, certain drawbacks have been experienced.Completion rates: Completion rates must increase. If students see no reward or recognition on completing their education, they have no incentive to finish their training.Job attainment: Students are well aware that some pharmacy technician positions require only minimal or no qualifications. Thi...

A Vision of Pharmacy's Future Roles, Responsibilities, and Manpower Needs in the United States

“…7 Pharmacy technician training is not standardized and remains inconsistent across the profession. 14,25,65 Given this potentially uneven preparation of technicians, a valid certification process is necessary to ensure that technicians possess the knowledge and skills required to perform competently. Although more than 54,000 pharmacy technicians currently are certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), this represents a significant minority of the total workforce of more than 150,000 pharmacy technicians employed in the community or institutional setting.…”

“…69 Standardized training of pharmacy technicians should be a high priority for the profession to ensure public safety, and pharmacy employers must be encouraged to employ only nationally-certified technicians. 65 Pharmacy education should consider expanding its role in the standardization and validation of technician training. We agree with the Millis Commission' s assertion:…”