Abstract
Clinical community pharmacists have continually restructured their workflow to serve the community by optimizing patient care outcomes. Defining the perceived benefits of having an immunizing pharmacy technician in the workflow can help to redefine the way community pharmacists operate during patient immunization. The purpose of this study is to share the opinions of supervising pharmacists that have an immunizing technician within their workflow model and highlight their contributions. Pharmacists involved in this novel workflow model were interviewed two times, once in 2017 and then in 2020, to gauge opinions over time. Findings in the results of this study included such themes as: (1) Pharmacists’ perceived improvement in workflow flexibility; (2) The choice of the correct technician to immunize within the pharmacy; (3) Pharmacists’ perceived improved workflow time prioritization; (4) Limited available training as a barrier to implementation; and (5) The initial apprehension and later acceptance of pharmacists with respect to the innovation. As technician immunization administration spreads beyond early adopter states, further research into the impact on pharmacy workflow is needed.
Highlights
The Department of Health and Human Services supports the expansion of the role of the pharmacist, enhancing patient autonomy and providing competition within the current healthcare model [1]
Pharmacists within one pharmacy chain were contacted to participate in a key informant interview. These pharmacists supervised the first group of immunizing technicians in the United States trained during the pharmacy technician immunization training pilot project conducted by McKeirnan and colleagues in 2016
Immunizing is a relatively new role for pharmacy technicians, and consideration of factors that can encourage and ease implementation into pharmacy workflow can aid in future application
Summary
The Department of Health and Human Services supports the expansion of the role of the pharmacist, enhancing patient autonomy and providing competition within the current healthcare model [1]. Advancements in the role of the pharmacist in community-based practice to meet the needs of patients within the area they serve have been largely successful [2]. Given the increased need to provide continued vaccination efforts in the United States [5,6] and promote community-pharmacist role advancement, a transition of current workflow responsibilities could be considered in order to support this change. When pharmacists move from traditional dispensing roles to increasingly clinical roles, the need for pharmacy technicians to take on advanced roles increases. Literature supports advancing the role of pharmacy technicians to improve patient outcomes within the pharmacy, when training is available and there is a clear and tangible benefit to the technician [8]
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