Evaluation of the Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technician Demonstration

Summary

The evaluation conducted by Quigley and Watts Ltd and supported by the University of Otago School of Pharmacy research staff has demonstrated positive outcomes for the establishment of Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technicians into the pharmacy workforce.

A Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technician is a pharmacy technician who is trained and certified to carry out the final accuracy check on a dispensed item.

Health Workforce New Zealand provided funding to the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand from 2014 to 2015 for this demonstration.

The aim of the demonstration was to test the concept of enabling a pharmacist more time to provide improved patient services without compromising public safety in the dispensing of medicines.

Eleven demonstration sites participated, representing a cross-section of the pharmacy sector (hospital and community pharmacies) and a Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technician training programme was established.

The evaluation found:

• Pharmacists in both hospital and community pharmacies increased the amount of time spent on patient focused activities without compromising public safety in the dispensing of medicines
• For hospital pharmacies patient focused activities increased from 16.3 percent to 23.6 percent, and for community pharmacies from 8.0 percent to 13.3 percent
• The training programme was rated highly by all respondents.

Next steps:

• The demonstration is considered suitable for national roll-out
• Implementation planning has commenced and a draft document “New Zealand Framework for Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technicians” sets out all the requirements for the implementation, training and oversight of the Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technicians.

The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand has undertaken the development and implementation of the Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technician training and certification programme with plans for the training to be available in 2016.