Ke. Koch et A. Weeks, CLINICALLY ORIENTED PHARMACY TECHNICIANS TO AUGMENT CLINICAL SERVICES, American journal of health-system pharmacy, 55(13), 1998, pp. 1375-1381
The justification for and the training, responsibilities, and contribu
tions of two clinically oriented pharmacy technicians are described. A
proposal outlining the clinical services being provided by pharmacist
s at a 650-bed medical center and the need for technical assistance wa
s developed and approved. Two clinical technician positions were creat
ed to replace one of two eliminated pharmacist positions. Each of the
technicians hired had worked successfully in several traditional pharm
acy technician roles. The technicians were trained for specific roles
and cross-trained in the basic functions of each other's roles. The te
chnicians made rounds with the pharmacists to learn how to evaluate pa
tients and interact with physicians and nurses and were required to de
monstrate competence in deciding which patients required further evalu
ation. One technician focuses on providing direct clinical service sup
port, and the other works primarily as a clinical administrative assis
tant. Half the technicians' time is spent performing services previous
ly performed by pharmacists. In addition, the technicians track outcom
es and provide clerical and data-management assistance. The technician
s are responsible for screening and tracking approximately 400 patient
s per month on well-established services and 400 per month on two new
monitoring services. The technicians have helped develop a medication-
error tracking program. Clinically oriented, technicians freed up phar
macists' time by collecting routine clinical data and managing clinica
l projects; through protocol-based screening and outcomes tracking, th
e technicians have helped to implement new clinical services and evalu
ate existing ones.