First technician of the year clinical award announced
Nirmala Soma: language barrier a problem to understanding medicines |
A pharmacy translating service set up by Nirmala Soma, community services co-ordinator, Glenfields Hospital, Leicester, was the first ever winner of the AAH hospital pharmacy technician of the year clinical award. Interviewing patients of Asian ethnicity in the hospital found that 58 per cent would benefit from an interpreter.
A national survey conducted as part of the project found that only 23
of hospitals that replied (36.5 per cent of the survey) employed translators.
One third of hospitals reported that non-English speaking patients were
excluded from self-medication schemes.
Glenfields Hospital has a diverse ethnic mix. In the 2001 census, 29.9
per cent of local residents came from the Asian population. It had been
observed that many patients experienced difficulty understanding their
medication due to the language barrier. According to the project team,
there is currently no understanding of the errors and confusion caused
by using untrained interpreters. A business case is now being prepared
to make the service permanent.
Judith Telford: technicians and ATOs can handle most CD issues
|
Technicians taking on additional responsibility
for Controlled Drugs was the topic of an entry from Judith Telford,
aseptic dispensing services
manager, Wansbeck General Hospital, Northumberland, which was a winner
in the supply chain category. At the time of the project, Ms Telford
was the dispensary and ward services manager, Hexham General Hospital,
Northumberland.
The ward supply of CDs, dispensing of CD prescriptions and recording
in the register were all handled by the pharmacy technicians. Assistant
technical officers (ATOs) performed a ward top up of CDs.
Pharmacists maintained responsibility for CDs during on-call periods
and are also responsible for supervising their destruction.
The goals of the project were to allow pharmacists to have more time
to spend on other tasks, to add interest to the role of the technicians
and the ATOs, and to improve the turnaround time for CD orders. |
Hospital Pharmacist