Patient-Facing Interactions: Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacists Optimizing Care

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.