Lesson 2: The Pharmacy Technician

Communication with Patients and Customers

• Communication occurs through a cycle involving at least two people exchanging information
• The cycle includes:
  • Sender/Source: Individual sending the information
  • Message: The information being conveyed
  • Channel: How the message is delivered
  • Receiver: Individual who gets message
  • Feedback: Acknowledgement from the receiver

Sender

• The Sender transmits a message using various channels.
• Channels include spoken words, written communication, and body language.
• The Sender encodes the message by choosing the method of expression

Message

• Messages should be complete, containing all necessary data
• Messages must be concise, and free of any unnecessary information
• Obscurity and ambiguity must be avoided for clarity
• Messages must be cohesive, and organized logically
• Send messages that are courteous and kind to others

Channel

• Channels provide a path for messages from sender to receiver
• Communication may be:
  • Downward (superiors to employees)
  • Upward (employees to superiors)
  • Horizontal (amongst similar levels of responsibility)

Receiver

• Receivers interpret the message based on their understanding
• Communication can be impacted by two types of noise
  • External: Literal noise which makes hearing difficult
  • Internal: Personal thoughts which interfere with communication

Feedback

• Feedback includes verbal responses and body language illustrating understanding

• When communicating with patients, feedback is key

• Guidelines for giving feedback:

  • Be Clear
  • Be Positive
  • Be Specific
  • Focus
  • Refer to changeable behaviors
  • Be descriptive
  • Use “I” statements
  • Give advice only when requested

• Feedback lets people know if they are communicating effectively.

• Negative and closed feedback styles to avoid:

  • Being defensive.
  • Attacking
  • Denial of the feedback
  • Being disrespectful.
  • Being closed off
  • Showing a lack of attention
  • Rationalizing
  • Being patronizing.
  • Being superficial.

• Positive and open styles of feedback include:

  • Being open
  • Being responsive
  • Being accepting
  • Being respectful
  • Being engaged
  • Active listening.
  • Being thoughtful.
  • Showing interest.
  • Being sincere.

• Note taking is useful for recalling feedback, especially in groups.

• Helpful, thoughtful feedback given at a healthy time is best

• Feedback about Feedback should be encouraged.

• Aim to be honest, not brutal, and use feedback as a continual learning process.

Verbal Communication

• Communication should always aim for understanding.
• Verbal communication involves more than words, ideas, thoughts, and feelings
• Inflection, tone, facial expressions, posture, and behavior are all important.
• Compliance with medical regimens depends on understanding the treatment.
• Understanding is influenced by technician communication, and technicians must recognize their important role.
• Effective communication techniques include.
  • Vocabulary expansion via reading, CDs, DVDs and Internet
  • University communication courses.
• Consider emotional state of the individuals to respond appropriately

Written Communication

• Excellent written communication is essential and inaccuracy leads to harm.
• Technicians are responsible for things including memos,emails, ordering, and record keeping.
• Written communication reinforces oral communication.

Nonverbal Communication

• Most communication is nonverbal and expressed through body language.
• Eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, grooming, dress, space, tone, and posture must be considered
• Good eye contact is the most important non-verbal cue

Eye Contact

• Direct eye contact shows personal interest.
• Sensitivity and attentiveness are always important
• Direct eye contact is not impolite, staring is.

Facial Expressions

• Being a patient comes with embarrassment and fear.
• Facial expressions must be professional to counter patient concerns.
• Facial expressions should be caring and careful.
• Disapproval should never be demonstrated

Hand Gestures

• Arm and hand movements are strong nonverbal cues.
• Hand gestures emphasize the words a speaker is saying.

Grooming and Dress

• Appearance matters.
• Dress and grooming create an impression.
• Impressions create opinions.

Spatial Awareness

• Cultural awareness extends to personal space.
• Anglo-Saxons need more personal space than other cultures.
• Too much space can be insulting in some cultures

Tone of Voice

• Voice tone carries a message
• People respond best to respect and caring.
• Voices should be calm, confident, and respectful
• Sarcasm, impatience, bullying, or weakness should be avoided

Posture

• Posture is positioning of the body in the surrounding space
• Posture can be described as open or closed.
• Open postures show receptiveness and friendliness
• Closed postures show a lack of receptiveness, anger or upset

Physical Contact

• Touch is therapeutically helpful when used appropriately
• Touching without permission is never appropriate
• Be certain to ask permission or request consent before physical closeness

Communicating with Others/Patients

• Communication should be accurate and consistent
• Nonverbal and verbal characteristics should mirror each other
• Obtain feedback to ensure information is correct.
• Have two way communication.

Methods of Communication

• Face-to-face is the most used and other methods include phones, computers, emails, the internet, conferences, pagers, voicemails, etc
• All forms must have appropriate language and tone

Telephones and skills

• Phone skills must be professional
• Identify the business and offer assistance.
• Always be precise, accurate, and cohesive.
• Proper message taking is essential and should never be on scraps.
• The message should be dated,signed, and properly completed.
• Message information:
  • Called to who
  • Name
  • Number
  • Reason
  • Action
  • Date/time
  • Initials
• Cell phones should never be used at work and reserved for breaks

Fax Machines

• Faxing allows for quick transmission of documents
• It can help avoid errors
• Real time decision support and timely notification of inappropriate orders is a key to reduce errors

Computers and Email

• Computers and internet are used to gather information, work, conference, and emailing customers.
• Emailing is a popular inexpensive way to communicate
  • Use normal capitalization and grammar
  • Avoid emoticons or tones
  • Never send insulting remarks
  • Always re read emails before sending
  • Remember emails are not always private
  • Identify yourself
  • Turn off html settings

Networking

• Networking on the internet through these methods.
  • Have constant access and tools
  • Have an agenda
  • Be open
  • Manage time
  • Ask for referrals
  • Make notes
  • Follow up for advice and stay positive

Teleconferences

• Teleconferences use virtual mediums to communicate
• Can be efficient and collaborative

Pagers and Voicemails

• Pagers allow customers to shop around and roam while waiting
• Voicemails are automated phone services to provide and gather information

Written documentation

• Records must be kept for 2 years due to state rules to ensure accurate management and business
• In case of legal issues, a good record keeps well business and customer safety

Types of Customers

• Customers are all those involved in pharmacy: physicians, nurses, sales representatives, and consumers
  • Consumer is person filling the medications
  • Physicians and nurses call the technicians.
  • Representatives provide knowledge on new drugs and information to drug products.

Characteristics of Pharmacy workers

• Adhere to Autonomy, Honesty, and Attitude
  • Respect self determination
  • Tell the truth about medical conditions etc
  • Always show warmness, caring, and provide the best for the patient needs

The Ethic to maintain confidentiality

• All information is strictly confidential
  • Cannot gossip negativity at all

Characteristics as a pharmacy worker

• Show Faithfulness, Appearance, and Averting Harassment
  • Welfare over financials
  • Cleanly, neat, and professional
  • Do not show any signs of harassment
• When dealing with loss adapt a process with mourning and bereavement

Barriers

• Barriers include noise, physical conditions, emotions, and time
• Environmental should be pleasant and assure confidentiality

Patients with special needs

• Help any persons and empathetic listening to communicate
• Speaking English is an ethical problem since all should still be helped regardless of language understanding
• With Aphasia, notes or sign language may be used

Avoid Prejudice

• Ethical to follow all treatments regardless of personal beliefs and biases

Do not show negative emotion

• Being bored or disinterested

• Being impatient (e.g., drumming fingers or clicking a pen)

  ​- Interrupting

Always avoid Defense Mechanisms

• Being Defensive, using Denial, rationalization, or being sarcastic in tone

Defense

• Apathy is also a reaction, which is to show indifference and unconcern.
• Conflict must be professionally, keeping the focus on the well-being of the patient

Improve barriers in Communications

• Work as a team and do excellent services
• A worker should prioritize their time and tasks well to communicate efficiently

Characteristics

• Act kind professional and dress accordingly

Hospital Pharmacy (Chapter 11)

• Hospital practices is giving services in medical facility

Services include

• Support- Maintain services
  • Product- fill orders and keep records.
  • Clinical- managing the medications to review
  • Educating- others to assist others

Rules in facilities

• Must follow rules for safety, assurance, and maintaining inventory within work.

Complying with Protocol

• Hospital Guidelines within non- formulary that are not approved
• Following the P and T to find best medications
• Always following the medication order to assist in retail pharmacy with prescriptions and Otc

Following medication Order

• Reviewing the patients personal condition for patient information like allergies.
  • Drug dose form, schedule and routes
  • Understand all types of orders within writing or charting
    • Like standing, medication, emergency and investigational orders following verification of discrepancy

Implementing POE to improve transcribing

• Electronic acess to medical to allow direct communication between doctors.
  • Applying computer systems to reduce high fines if not following compliance.
  • Computer system checks on allergies, lab problems to prevent overradiologic studies.

Apply scan codes and track all to allow for clear information.

• Monitoring also implements signs to patient records and reduce paper work, which in total provides patients their rightful dosage, dose, time etc
  • With codes in system must recheck for accuracy with each dosage, which requires training in that area
    • Helps to apply scan codes for all prior to assess of having to require the exact amounts in all mediations.

Distribution Systems

• Applying from Dispenser too pharmacist has expanding the medications. Unit dose.
  • Used to allow mini dosage but now follows dispense process and all should focus on appropriate medication
• Stock will be in charge to deliver and nurses also take precautions on delivering also.
• To ensure use liquid is in each dose and should be sent for to be patients room.
• Also providing products that should only be used with careful precaution.
  • Equipment, storage, and the quality should maintain for preparing products such as, washing and following procedure to maintain control for all.

Maintain quality within the pharmacy system

• Following proper labeling of medication and the procedure by following all measures.

• Inventory control

  • Maintain by directory and delegated - Ensuring to check what supplies were being used .

• Always adapting new machine to improved efficiency

• Allowing processing for larger loads.

• However. the machine always needs a person to check

Check clinical orders and information

• Monitor the dosages
• Review and prevent errors in ill legible handwriting
  • Using the CPOE

Responsibilities of Pharmacist

• Checking or supervision for filling out the medications within pharmacy and control on proper medical and evaluate properly to see if all is good.

Responsibilities for pharmacy workers or Technicians.

• Following the steps and procedures

  • Inventory record
  • Preparing doses.
  • Packaging and delivery

• Train and understand all tasks to help.

• Comply the system and always act safe

Hospital pharmacy future

• Training to the full extent is required
• Having more responsibility for better service
• Comply with the joint commission etc

Community Pharmacy

• The setting of pharmacy in retail to help with prescriptions at assistance and administrations
• Main technicians require -Customer access -Entering scripts -Medication label -Processing claims -Inventory restock -Customer register.

Review

-Helping doctors.

• All the details, steps and be proficient is needed.

The prescription

• OTC versus BTC
• Verification and electronic prescriptions reduce errors.

Pharmacy is always organized.

• Technicians never counsel
  • Patients customer service is always important

Stocks

• Must be stored correctly
• Clean
• Check temps.

Sterile Compounds vs Norm

• Technicians follow rules by USP of being properly sterilized.

Storage and Computer System

• Keep a system of filling properly to store
• Always consult questions if never is known to find what needed with supervisions.
• Drive thru should implement the correct delivery orders.
• Taking costumers cash accurately.

Controlled Substances

• Always take direction from all rules to not deviate and always be checking

Control and Purchase

• Always use the correct PO with details

• Check it is in good condition with no expirations.

• Professionalism.

• Always being courteous listening and be ethical while following HIPPA. HIPAA

Tech should never make assumptions and always speak the best

Elderly communication

• Should be slow clearly and simple
• May need writing if cannot hear
• Always be helpful through support if cannot see or interact.

The pharmacy

• Be respectful to the disorders -Support

• Treat same!

• Communication is needed to prevent any medication errors. - Always be at full moral character

• And communicate well