Impact of a pharmacy technician on clinical pharmacy services in an Australian hospital

Background There is increasing recognition for the role of pharmacy technicians in obtaining medication histories and performing administrative tasks which may represent an opportunity cost when completed by pharmacists. Technician-enhanced teams can therefore improve hospital clinical pharmacy services. In Australian hospitals, medication reconciliation and reviews can be documented in Medication Management Plans (MMPs) upon admission. Thus, MMPs can be used as feasible measures of the efficiency of pharmacy teams. Objective To quantify the impact of a technician-enhanced clinical pharmacy model on medication reconciliation and timeliness of pharmacist tasks. Setting 480-bed tertiary teaching hospital in New South Wales. Method The effect of a technician working alongside the geriatric pharmacist in a single hospital was evaluated. Outcomes were measured throughout two 4-week periods pre- and post-implementation for patients under the supervision of a geriatrician who were discharged during usual business hours. Data were collected by the supervising pharmacist. Main outcome measure Primary outcomes were the number of MMPs completed daily on average and during admission, as well as the timeliness of updating discharge summaries, medication histories and MMPs. Results The mean number of daily MMPs significantly increased from 2.25 to 4.90 with the technician (p < 0.001, 95% CI 1.66 to 3.64). The median time to update discharge summary significantly decreased from 6:48 to 2:33 h (p = 0.01). Conclusion This study suggested that technician-enhanced teams could improve the efficiency of clinical pharmacy services in an Australian hospital.