Leveraging the roles of the technicians and assistants in ... · Leveraging the roles of the...
Transcript of Leveraging the roles of the technicians and assistants in ... · Leveraging the roles of the...
Leveraging the roles of the technicians
and assistants in your pharmacy
Rachelle Rocha RPh
Ruth-Ann Plaxton RTech
Goals and objectives
• Maximizing workplace efficiency to deliver optimal
patient care
• Understanding roles of pharmacists, technicians,
assistants and clerks
• Effective task assignment and scheduling
• Case study
RAP
State of the nation
Total licensed pharmacists 38,737
Total licensed pharmacy technicians 4,349
Pharmacies*:
Community pharmacies 9,558
In-patient hospital pharmacies, if licensed by regulatory authority.
285
Total licensed pharmacies 9,843
RAP
State of the nation
Jurisdiction Total licensed pharmacy
technicians Alberta 457
British Columbia 915
Manitoba 0
New Brunswick 1
Newfoundland and Labrador 0
Northwest Territories 0
Nova Scotia 44
Nunavut 0
Ontario 2,927
Prince Edward Island 5
Quebec 0
Saskatchewan 0 Yukon 0
CANADA 4,349 RAP
Sustainable pharmacy practice
Increase revenue
Fill MORE RX for
less unit profit
PLUS
Build NEW
revenue streams
Decrease cost
Delegate ALL tasks
to the lowest paid,
qualified person
RR
Right person, right Task
Ph
arm
acis
t • Evaluating therapeutics of each Rx
• Assessments
• Prescribing
• Extend/renew
• Adapting
• Supervising
• Injecting
• Medication Reviews
• Minor ailment prescribing
• Taking responsibility for patient care
Tech
nic
ian
• Checking Compliance Packs
• Checking “in-line”
• v/o prescriptions
• Direct workflow in dispensary
• Write schedules
• Inventory
• Transfers
• Troubleshooting inventory/drug plans
Ass
ista
nt • Order Entry
• Billing for professional services
• Collecting information (flu shot screening)
• Placing the order
• Identifying opportunities for pharmacist intervention
• Faxing doctors
• Mixtures
• Pushing compliance packs at computer
• Device training
C
lerk
• Packaging
• Phone
• Triage
• Cleaning
• Cash
• Put the order away
• Filing
• Filling compliance packs
• “in training to be an assistant”
B
Pharmacists need to pick up
• As many professional services that they can
– Refilling or adapting prescriptions
– Medication reviews
– Injections
– OTC recommendations
– Minor ailment prescribing
– Professional opinions
– Assessing EVERY prescription that gets filled for
therapeutic appropriateness
RR
Pharmacists need to give up
• Checking the contents of the vial
• Answering questions about drug plans
• Answering questions about inventory
• Checking compliance packs
• Order entry
• Answering the phone
• Cashing out prescriptions
RR
Techs need to pick up
• Checking all prescriptions – compliance pack and inline
• Training assistants
• Answering all questions related to billing, inventory,
supply chain issues
• Leading the assistants and clerks during busy times
• Organizing the pharmacist with respect to identifying
opportunities for professional activities and directing the
pharmacists next tasks
• Ensuring that all prescriptions have a therapeutic check
before leaving the dispensary RAP
Compliance packs
• OVERSEES the entire program
• Check the completed packs
• Ensure that the pharmacists has completed the therapeutic
review as required
• Assigns and oversees the assistants and clerks billing and
filling the packs
• Troubleshoots all problems related to compliance packs
• Looks for opportunities for expanded professional activities
• NEVER checks his/her own work
RAP
Techs need to give up
• Order entry
• Answering the phone first
• Filling prescriptions
• Filling bubble packs
• Putting away stock bottles
• Placing the order
• Putting away the order
RAP
We may need to stretch ourselves…
Sometimes to get something really good…
RAP
Right place
Drop-off Pickup
Counseling spaces
Packaging and Checking
Compliance pack area Inventory management
RAP
Scheduling
Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist
Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Clerk
ZERO volume VERY high volume
RR
Scheduling
Pharmacist Pharmacist
Assistant Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Clerk
Clerk Clerk
Technician
Technician
Technician
ZERO volume VERY high volume RR
Scheduling
Pharmacist Pharmacist
Pharmacist
Assistant Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Clerk
Clerk Clerk
Technician
Technician
Technician
ZERO volume VERY high volume RR
Scheduling
Pharmacist Pharmacist
Pharmacist
Assistant Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Clerk
Clerk Clerk
Technician
Technician
Technician
ZERO volume VERY high volume
Robot
RR
Scheduling
Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist
Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Assistant Assistant
Clerk
Shared technician
ZERO volume VERY high volume RR
High volume - scheduling for a week day
Opening About one hour after opening
Evening
Technician
Closing
Pharmacist
Assistants
Clerk(s)
Pharmacist
RR
Low volume shared tech
Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist Pharmacist
Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant
Technician
Sunday Tuesday Monday Thursday Wednesday
Friday Saturday
Technician
RR
Right time
• Who covers breaks and lunches?
• Who covers during busy times?
• What happens when your tech goes on vacation or has
an extended illness?
RR
Case study
Sally, the technician, arrives in the pharmacy at 9:30 on a Monday morning and the staff is hard at
work. Tom, the pharmacy manager, is in the counseling room and there are three people waiting
in line for a flu shot. Sally overhears patients in the waiting area commenting on how great it is
that they don’t have to waste so much time at the doctor’s office for their annual flu shot. (How
wonderful!) The main assistant, Jane, is inputting this morning and the new part time clerk, Joan,
is filling. Sally is relatively new to this pharmacy. She is the first ever registered technician and
has been with the store about two months. She is excited to finally find such an amazing,
progressive pharmacy, (especially when her former employer of 15 years would not let her work
as a technician after she got licensed!)
The day starts off well with everyone working together and Sally spends the first 15 minutes at the
dispensary counter, checking the technical component of the prescription (contents of the vial).
Suddenly, the phone rings and rings and rings, and finally she picks it up. As she is answering
the caller’s question, an elderly woman approaches the cash to pick up her prescription. After a
minute or two Sally finishes on the phone and runs over to the cash to serve her. Returning to
her workstation, the phone rings again. She waits, but at last answers it again. This scenario
repeats itself over and over again, leaving Sally little time to check any baskets. Finally, she gets
back to her workstation and begins checking the stack of baskets that have accumulated. When
Tom arrives on the scene, he blurts, “Hey…I thought you technicians would be able to keep things
going, so I could do other things!” How could the day start off so great, and end up like this?
B
References
• Our experience
• Trust In the workplace articles and books
– Bowman, Dave, Human Resource Expert TTG
Consultants; The Five Best Ways to Build - and lose –
Trust in the Workplace, article found on internet
– Reina, Dennis S and Reina, Michael L, (2015) Trust
and Betrayal in the Workplace, Oakdale California,
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc