The role of the clinical technician was as varied as the role of the clinical
pharmacist, according to Ms Shirley North (dispensary manager, Guy’s and
St Thomas’s hospital NHS trust). Clinical technicians were not there, however,
to do all the things that pharmacists used to do and no longer wanted to do,
she said. Many roles were being created for individuals with the emphasis on
using their particular skills to improve a patient’s pharmaceutical care
plan.
It was important that technicians were involved in the evolution of pharmacy
as a profession, Ms North told the meeting. This was already being seen with
the use of technicians to teach dispensing skills to pharmacy students. Ms North
added that the current shortage of technicians meant that it was important to
motivate and retain those already working in the profession and to take the
lead in both traditional and new areas of pharmacy.
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| Shirley North: technicians able to improve a patient’s pharmaceutical care |
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| Darren Leach: technicians not a threat to pharmacists |
Explaining the role of clinical technicians in his own hospital, Mr Darren
Leach (chief pharmacy technician, William Harvey hospital, Ashford, Kent) said
that if a technician was competent at identifying interactions and answering
queries then there was no reason why they should not be involved at that level.
By getting technicians out on to the wards, admission and discharge procedures
could be speeded up and made more efficient, he said. Often nurses and doctors
did not have time to explain prescription changes and it was up to pharmacy
as a whole to help patients understand their pharmaceutical care. Patients should
receive seamless care from health professionals, whether in hospital or in the
community, and clinical technicians could play an important role in delivering
this. As with any clinical role, technicians had to realise their limitations
and refer as appropriate, said Mr Leach.
Discussing the needs of clinical technicians with regard to education, Ms Sarah
Goodson (education and training technician, Guy’s and St Thomas’s
hospital NHS trust) told the meeting that it would not be possible to package
everything into one course. Being a good clinical technician was not just about
knowledge. Education should be individualised to reflect the current skills
and strengths of a particular technician and the needs of the local client group.
She added that the Government’s current agenda for health care services
was very much about competency which would “throw down the barriers”
between technicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals.
Technicians needed to be self-reliant and had to be trained in self-management,
said Ms Goodson. It was no longer acceptable to say “I’m not responsible”,
she added.
Ms Helen Dalrymple (assistant education development officer, Wrexham Maelor
hospital) told the meeting that technicians needed accredited training that
was transferable. “Just because technicians haven’t jumped through
your specific hoops does not mean that they aren’t competent,” she
said. It was also important that technicians were accountable for their work
as supervision was becoming “long range”. Registration was something
that technicians should actively pursue, said Ms Dalrymple. To provide an open
and accountable service technicians needed to belong to a registered body that
was self regulating, she said.
Responding to a question from the floor about technician registration, Ms Goodson
said that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society needed to embrace technicians in
order for “the public to see that we are all saying the same thing”.
Mr Leach added that registration with any other organisation would make the
pharmacy profession even more divisive.
On the question of assessing technician competency, Ms Goodson replied that
there was a need for a strict framework with national standards. “We are
way behind other European countries in terms of time allocated for training
clinical technicians,” she said.
When asked, “Who are the agents of change?”, Mr Leach said that change
was being enabled by pharmacists who realised that technicians were not a threat
and that they could help improve services for patients.
Another audience member warned the panel of speakers not to fall into the same
trap that pharmacists had fallen into, having too many interest groups. He said
that technicians lacked a cohesive voice and advised that the Association of
Pharmacy Technicians, the Hospital Pharmacy Group and the Guild of Healthcare
Pharmacists should get together to define standards and maybe introduce voluntary
registration.