Patient-Facing Interactions: Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacists Optimizing Care
Target Audience: Pharmacy Tech
Course Overview
Evidence links ineffective clinician-patient communication with increased malpractice risk, nonadherence, patient dissatisfaction, and poor patient health outcomes. Addressing interactions, including communication deficits, is paramount to the pharmacy team. Pharmacy technicians provide valuable services as part of the pharmacy team, focused on quality and safety. Listening skills, quality of information gathering, and attitude of pharmacy technicians are important when interacting with diverse patient populations. Improving the quality of pharmacy technician-patient interactions will lead to identifying problems, gaps, and patient preferences and result in increased patient and staff satisfaction. Professional practice standards and patient-facing experiences serve as guidelines for pharmacists to oversee and guide pharmacy technicians in specific situations. Successful patient interactions and services necessary to provide optimal pharmaceutical care reveal the need for optimal pharmacist-pharmacy technician alignment.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this educational activity, participants should be able to:
- Identify characteristics exhibited by pharmacy technicians that lead to successful pharmacy technician-patient interactions
- Summarize the potential impacts of ineffective pharmacy team-patient communication
- Discuss cultural competency considerations that may impact pharmacy technician-patient interactions
- Identify why soft skills are important in pharmacy technician-patient interactions
- Compare how pharmacy technician-patient interactions differ in different practice settings
Faculty
I. Introduction
II. The Roles of Pharmacy Technicians
III. Developing Pharmacy Technician Competencies
1. Training
2. Cultural competencies
IV. Skills and Responsibilities of Pharmacy Technicians
1. Patient Medication safety
2. Drug interactions
V. Relationships with Patients
Self-care
VI. Effective Communication is Vital
1. Drug Shortages
2. Pricing and Insurance
3. Patient Satisfaction
VII. Practice Settings Beyond Community
1. Drug Studies
2. Specialty Settings
3. Pharmacy Benefits Management
4. Transition of Care
VIII. Summary
From September 16, 2023 through September 16, 2026, participants must:
- Read the "learning objectives" and "author and planning team disclosures"
- Study the section entitled "educational activity"
- Complete the Course Test and Evaluation form. The Course Test will be graded automatically. Following successful completion of the Course Test with a score of 70% or higher, a statement of participation will be made available immediately. (No partial credit will be given.)
Credit for this course will be automatically uploaded to CPE Monitor®.
Faculty Planner Disclosure
The following individuals were involved in developing this activity: Pamela Sardo, PharmD, BS. Pamela Sardo, PharmD, BS, was an employee of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals until March 2022 and has no conflicts of interest or relationships regarding the subject matter discussed. There are no financial relationships relevant to this activity to report or disclose by any of the individuals involved in the development of this activity.
Unlabeled Use Disclosure
The information provided in this course is general in nature and it is solely designed to provide participants with continuing education credit(s). This course and materials are not meant to substitute for the independent, professional judgment of any participant regarding that participant’s professional practice, including but not limited to patient assessment, diagnosis, treatment and/or health management. Medical and pharmacy practices, rules, and laws vary from state to state, and this course does not cover the laws of each state; therefore, participants must consult the laws of their state as they relate to their professional practice. Healthcare professionals, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, must consult with their employer, healthcare facility, hospital, or other organization, for guidelines, protocols, and procedures they are to follow. The information provided in this course does not replace those guidelines, protocols, and procedures but is for academic purposes only, and this course’s limited purpose is for the completion of continuing education credits. Participants are advised and acknowledge that information related to medications, their administration, dosing, contraindications, adverse reactions, interactions, warnings, precautions, or accepted uses are constantly changing, and any person taking this course understands that such person must make an independent review of medication information prior to any patient assessment, diagnosis, treatment and/or health management. Any discussion of off-label use of any medication, device, or procedure is informational only and such uses are not endorsed hereby. Nothing contained in this course represents the opinions, views, judgments, or conclusions of RxCe.com LLC. RxCe.com LLC is not liable or responsible to any person for any inaccuracy, error, or omission with respect to this course, or course material.
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- Operating System: Windows 7, 8, 10, or 11 / Mac OS X 10.9 or later / iOS / Android
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- A connection to the internet
Accreditation
In support of improving patient care, RxCE.com is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
PTCB Recognition
RxCe.com, LLC, offers pharmacy technician continuing education courses for PTCB recertification. Pharmacy technician courses are indicated both in the Target Audience description and the ACPE UAN which will end with a "T".