Community Pharmacies: Roles, Responsibilities of Technicians

This essay provides a detailed overview of the roles and responsibilities of pharmacy technicians in community pharmacies. It begins by defining community pharmacies and their function in supplying medicines. The essay then explores various roles, including supervising staff, assembling prescriptions, providing patient information, and managing medicine supply. It differentiates between entry-level, advanced, and specialized pharmacy technicians, outlining the required competencies for each level. A significant portion of the essay focuses on the importance of communication skills, including listening, phone etiquette, verbal and non-verbal skills, and behavioral skills. It also emphasizes the significance of context-specific practice skills, ethics, and confidentiality responsibilities. The conclusion summarizes the key takeaways, highlighting the importance of technicians' roles, communication skills, and ethical conduct. The essay also provides a comprehensive list of references, including books, journals, and online resources used in its preparation. This assignment is published on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools for students.

COMMUNITY
PHARMACIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
ESSAY ............................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Community pharmacies is defined as chemists which supply medicines and other
pharmacy products to the consumers (Braund and et.al., 2014). Their major work is to provide
medicines at pharmacies that are prescribed by the health care professionals. Nowadays
community pharmacists are also working for developing clinical services. Present essay
describes about role of pharmacy technicians.
ESSAY
There are various role played by the pharmacy technicians some of them are mentioned
below. These roles depend on the varying levels of complexity and responsibility.
ROLES OF PHARMACY TECHNICIAN
 Supervising other pharmacy staff
 Assembling medicines for prescription
 Providing the patients and other healthcare professionals with information
 Management of various areas of medicine supply
 Supplying medicines to the patients over the counter or on prescription
 Interacting with the patients and healthcare providers on phone or in person
 Preparing reports by collecting information and summarizing it
According to ASHP statement, the various roles are:
Entry- level pharmacy technicians
An entry level pharmacy technician is required to possess the following competencies:
 Pharmacy law and regulations
 Basic safe medication practices pharmacy inventory management
 Pharmacology for technicians Medication-use system technology
Advanced pharmacy technicians
The advanced pharmacy technicians have education and training at a level which is
additional to that of entry-level pharmacy technician (ASHP Statement on the Roles of Pharmacy
Technicians, 2015). The following roles are performed by advanced pharmacy technicians:
 Purchasing/ fiscal management
 Medication history assistance
 Management of other pharmacy technicians
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 Quality improvement
 Hazardous drug handling
 Education and training of other pharmacy technicians
 Community outreach
Today’s era requires pharmacy technicians to evolve their role and advance to the level of
operations management.
Specialized pharmacy technicians
These perform the role of undertaking activities that involve higher risk as well as complexity.
Communication plays great role in their field. It is important that they should
communicate in responsible manner so that service users could properly understand the meaning
of the message that are provided by them. If pharmacy technicians will not work responsibly
than due to that serious health problems might be faced by individuals (Boslaugh, 2015).
Pharmacy technicians are accountable for supporting the pharmacists in a particular commercial
setting. It is imperative that they should posses great organization skills so that all the pharmacy
related work should be completed by them effectively (Horsfield and et.al., 2014).
The various communication skills which need to be present in the Pharmacy technician
are mentioned below:-
Listening skills: It is important that pharmacy technicians should possess good listening
skills so that they can properly understand the meaning of information and messages that are
provided to them. They should have patience so that meaningful insight can be gained by them
about the details and information that is provided to them. For example, if someone describes
about the medical issue faced by him, then it is essential that the pharmacy technician should:
 Properly listen to the person
 Note the key words of the customer
Phone Etiquette: Pharmacy technicians need to make communication with large number of
individuals on daily basis. Telephonic communication is one important form of communication
which aid for spreading the information at fast speed. They represent their store and makes
conversation with various stakeholders. It is vital that they should answer the call with a friendly
greeting and in courteous manner. They should also state about the purpose of communication
(Green and et.al., 2013). For example, if a customer calls for taking information about
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prescriptions available for a particular disease, then it is required that pharmacy technician
should:
 Answer in a friendly, clear and specific manner
 Be polite and ask if more help is required
Verbal skills: Communication skills are very important for pharmacy technicians and speaking
in a confident way leaves positive impression on the listener. Pharmacy technicians must think
before they are speaking and they should be clear in the information and message provided by
them. They should not talk much and give precise and important information to the listener. It is
required that they should speak with confidence and place emphasis on the body languages. They
also needs to be concise and should have art of listening (Horsfield and et.al., 2014). For
example Pharmacy technician needs to make interaction with a customer who comes for taking
medicines. Therefore, he should:
 Speak in a confident and clear manner so as to make the customer comfortable
 Use efficient verbal skills in order to respond effectively.
 Use simple language in the situation when a customer has language difficulties
Non-verbal skills: These skills of pharmacy technicians need to be very effective so that
communication could be done in more effective way. Their facial expressions require to be
effective and they should convey the message in appropriate manner. Body postures and their
tone also need to be effective and they should sit straight while talking with other individuals.
For example, while interacting with a customer or healthcare professional, a pharmacy technician
should:
 Have good facial expressions
 Maintain eye contact
 Body posture should be relaxed
Attitude and behavioural skills: It is vital that pharmacist technicians should have effective
behavioural skills and positive attitude so that positive impression should be given by them. In
addition to that they should make proper and effective skills to them (Broyles and et.al., 2013).
They should speak in polite manner and have courtesy while speaking with others. They should
also take initiatives and possess positive mental attitude. Pharmacy technicians require to have
positive mental attitude and their professional etiquettes needs to be effective so that they can
work in better way. Their morale and motivation level should also be high so that it should be
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reflected while they are making interaction with other individuals (Norris and et.al., 2014). For
example, if a takes assistance for a medical problem then pharmacy technician should:
 Behave in a positive way
 Follow basic etiquettes.
Context specific practice skills: Pharmacy technicians should possess context specific practical
skills so that they can accomplish their assigned task and job duties in effective manner.
Interpersonal communication skills are important for the pharmacy technician so that they can
properly interact with the other physicians and pharmacists and could supply medicines at
required rates. These skills will aid for supporting the patients and ensuring therapeutic outcomes
in effective manner. Good verbal communication skills will support them for supporting the
health outcomes of the patients. For example good context specific practice skills will help the
pharmacy technician to properly complete their assigned job roles and attend to the customers.
Ethics :- It is very important that pharmacists should follow ethical guidelines so that they could
deliver products and services by following the ethical considerations and guidelines. In addition
to that it is also required that authentic and reliable information should be provided to the
patients so that ethical guidelines are followed while rendering information to the patients. It is
required that they should follow the ethical principles and guidelines so that they can deliver
better services to the patients. For example, a pharmacy technician is supplying valid and
relevant information to the customers as well as healthcare professionals and pharmacists about
the medicines.
Confidentiality responsibilities: Pharmacy technicians work for delivering and supplying
prescribed medicines to the patients. In addition to that it is vital that details and information
about all the patients should be kept confidential and thus it will help for maintaining the
knowledge and details about patients confidential (Harrison, Shaw and Harrison, 2015). Health
and medication related details of patients are known to pharmacy technicians and thus they are
responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of information. For example, if a pharmacy
technician knows about the medical history of a person with blood cancer, then he should:
 Maintain confidentiality of medical information about the patient
 Do not disclose the medical information with unauthorized persons
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CONCLUSION
From the above essay it can be concluded that it is important that pharmacy technicians
needs to play their roles. Their work is to supply medicines as per the prescriptions given by
medical practitioners. It is vital that they should have good communication skills so that they can
perform their assigned work in effective manner. Along with this it is also essential that they
should follow ethical guidelines so that all their work activities could be completed in ethical
manner. Moreover, it is also very important that confidentiality of information should also be
maintained so that important details should not be leaked.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Boslaugh, E. S., 2015. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Pharmacology and Society. SAGE
Publications.
Braund, R. and et.al., 2014. Drug related problems identified by community pharmacists on
hospital discharge prescriptions in New Zealand. International journal of clinical pharmacy.
36(3). pp.498-502.
Broyles, E. B. and et.al., 2013. Pharmacology in Nursing: Australia and New Zealand. Cengage
Learning.
Green, J. A. and et.al., 2013. Indigenous and immigrant populations’ use and experience of
community pharmacies in New Zealand. Journal of immigrant and minority health.15(1).
pp.78-84.
Harrison, J., Shaw, J. P. and Harrison, J.E., 2015. Anticoagulation management by community
pharmacists in New Zealand: an evaluation of a collaborative model in primary
care. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 23(3). pp.173-181.
Horsfield, E. and et.al., 2014. Filling the gaps: opportunities for community pharmacies to help
increase healthcare access for young people in New Zealand. International Journal of
Pharmacy Practice. 22(3). pp.169-177.
Horsfield, E. and et.al., 2014. How youth-friendly are pharmacies in New Zealand? Surveying
aspects of accessibility and the pharmacy environment using a youth participatory
approach. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 10(3). pp.529-538.
Lessing, C., Ashton, T. and Davis, P., 2016. New Zealand patients’ understanding of brand
substitution and opinions on copayment options for choice of medicine brand. Australian
Health Review. 40(3). pp.345-350.
Norris, P. and et.al., 2014. Geographical access to community pharmacies in New
Zealand. Health & place. 29. pp.140-145.
Online
ASHP Statement on the Roles of Pharmacy Technicians. 2015. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.ashp.org/-/media/assets/policy-guidelines/docs/statement-guidelines-roles-
pharmacy-technicians.ashx?la=en>. [Accessed on 4 August 2017].
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