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· Concordance
· Medicines distribution
· Pharmacy education
· Management training
· Medicines stability
· New contract
· Technicians
· Prescription charge
· Personal control
· Private dispensing
· Dispensing
· Health services
· Drug delivery
· The Society
· The Journal
Letters to the Editor
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Technicians
Technicians will be the “pharmacists” of the future
From Mr I. W. Marshall, FRPharmS
I was interested to read John
Baker’s letter (Technicians’ code
of conduct is unacceptable, PJ, 9 October, p514). I agree with everything
he says but perhaps the code identifies an interim stage in the trend
towards a change in role for both pharmacists and technicians.
With universities being encouraged to increase student numbers to finance
their maintenance and development, degree courses in pharmacy for technicians
are just around the corner and this will further muddy the role and responsibilities
of pharmacists and technicians as we currently know them.
Looking to the future, I hold the view that technicians will become the “pharmacists” who
will manage the practical supply of medicines to patients, from sourcing
to counselling at the time of handover in the dispensary. They will be
registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and will manage businesses.
Pharmacists, without the inverted commas, must become a different animal.
Because of the general lowering of academic standards for university
entrance to basic degrees (partly due to a Government desire to have
unrealistically huge numbers of school leavers go to a “university”,
irrespective, it would seem, as to the outcome in terms of work relevance
or availability), pharmacist degrees are now at “masters” level
with, it is to be hoped, a higher-than-before entry standard. The role
here is to develop clinical, therapeutic and pharmaceutical knowledge
to ensure the most suitable medicine is prescribed, that is, to be directly
involved in the stages well before the dispensing process.
As such concepts develop, the Society might see a register of 30,000 “pharmacists” (technicians)
and 10,000 or fewer pharmacists (MPharm/PharmD) in the not too distant
future. Who knows?
Ian Marshall
Leeds
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal