Guess what? There are some marked differences between hospital and community pharmacy.

As the blueprint for pharmacy practice transitions across the country, these two working environments really serve to highlight those differences, especially from a training and orientation standpoint. My personal experience in hospitals over the past decade is pretty much non-existent. I have be on some site visits, and have marveled at how the dispensaries were run. My curiosity led me to question how such large teams can become so consistent in their discipline to complete tasks. Like cogs in an assembly line, if one piece gets shifted or removed, another is prepared to repair or replace without missing a beat. Through my observations and discussions, it has got me thinking: in many ways, hospitals are holding back technician regulation because they’ve been too effective in their integration of current assistants to roles requiring more training and responsibility.

Let’s back up a bit…

Here in Nova Scotia, hospitals operate under different regulations than community-based practice. I’m sure this is true in many jurisdictions. Health professions can collaborate freely within the confines of the hospital and have some flexibility to re-define roles in response to new service demands. Tech-check-tech processes were introduced in the hospital long before it was being used in long-term care or community settings. Specialized technical roles had non-pharmacists in charge of sterile preparations, stat-box management and unit-dose dispensing. Dispensary managers are often former technicians that are now administrators, developing and enforcing policy and procedure, while overseeing site-specific training modules that may require upwards of 6 months to complete.

This has allowed pharmacists to spend more and more time in clinical, collaborative practice and minimal time in the actual dispensary. Many full-time positions are entirely clinical in nature, opening the door to take full advantage of approved expanded scope services (i.e. – lab test requisition).

Therein lies the rub: technician roles have been leveraged so well that regulation doesn’t appear to have the same dramatic impact on hospital technicians as it would in a community setting.

As a community pharmacist in both retail and previous long-term care environments, I can see the potential in the investment towards tech regulation to free up pharmacist time. The main difference is that we need the regulation in place to take advantage of some of the opportunities before us, where pharmacists aren’t the ones who primarily verify a completed prescription or compliance packaging, and instead can spend more time injecting, reviewing medications, and documenting interactions with patients. Hospitals were able to integrate those functions without the formal regulations in place, and are thriving as a result.

In closing, although it’s taken a long time, regulation is finally here. There are excellent people in pharmacy assistant positions that are stepping up to support the pharmacy profession. The glass ceiling is cracking and is primed to shatter. A new profession, with new leaders being recognized as the professionals they are, will push us to the next level.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.