The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7170 p566-568
20 October 2001

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UK Medicines Information summary

MI technicians are increasingly important

With the increasing difficulties in recruiting hospital pharmacists, the empowerment of pharmacy technicians is a potentially crucial way forward. This session was presented by Gillian Lewis, medicines information (MI) technician, and Andrea McConkey, technician development officer, South West Medicines Information and Training, Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Ms Lewis explained that technicians have been part of the team in some MI centres for several years. “At the moment there are about 35 working in the UK,” she said. She explained that technicians are an adaptable resource with a professional knowledge of hospital pharmacy, and an understanding of the NHS environment and its procedures. However, she cautioned that a role in MI would not suit every technician, since a detailed knowledge of medicines, disease states and clinical practice is needed. MI is also office-based which, she felt, some technicians may find difficult to adjust to. Successful MI technicians need good communication and IT skills, and must be systematic and methodical, she said.

Technicians can answer enquiries, but usually these are screened by a pharmacist first. Their other potential roles are quite wide-ranging and in various MI centres around the UK currently include: information retrieval, quality assurance, database management, website management, systems maintenance, training, bulletin production and updating written procedures.

Ms Lewis described three things which must be in place for technicians to work in MI:

• Safe systems of work Appropriate personnel, and standard operating procedures so that standards are met by everyone working in the MI centre.
• Well defined roles Clear job descriptions, professional boundaries and lines of accountability.
• Adequate training

Ms McConkey then described how the UKMI network had finalised a medicines information training scheme for pharmacy technicians. This is similar in structure and design to the National Vocational Qualification scheme, she said. It is hoped that, in time, the MI training scheme could form a recognised part of a hospital pharmacy technician NVQ. The UKMI scheme allows entry for technicians that have routine involvement in MI. It will include a residential induction course covering subjects such as critical thinking, database searching and networking, the first of which will be held in spring 2002. The scheme enables technicians to build a portfolio to demonstrate that training has been undertaken to a standard.

In terms of answering MI enquiries, Ms McConkey explained that technicians must document five enquiries of each type that they would be expected to answer in their place of work. There would be a number of formal assessments as part of this process. Technicians should also demonstrate that they understand the MI centre’s structure, policies and procedures. The final step to accreditation will be an assessment interview by the regional training co-ordinator. The scheme manual is available here.

Ms McConkey felt that pharmacists derive considerable job satisfaction from MI and that it would be valuable to open up this opportunity to technicians. “There are many roles that technicians can perform if there are support systems and training in place,” she said. “A move towards increased technician utilisation will not only help to meet the initiatives outlined in ‘Pharmacy in the Future’, but will facilitate better roles for all of the MI team”.

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