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Roles and impacts of pharmacy technicians: a literature review Volume 38, issue 2, Juin 2019

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Authors
1 Service pharmacie, CHU de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
2 Service pharmacie, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, Paris, France
3 Département de pharmacie et Unité de recherché en pratique pharmaceutique, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montréal, Québec, Canada
4 Faculté de pharmacie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
* Correspondance

Background. Pharmacists have relied on the contribution of assistant pharmacist for several decades. Pharmacist can no longer work without the pharmacy technicians to efficiently and safely practice pharmacy. Aim. The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive literature review to examine the roles and the impacts of pharmacy technicians. Methods. Literature search in PubMed (January 1996-March 21th, 2018). Were included articles in French and English presenting pharmacy technician roles (e.g. defined activities supporting pharmacist and the drug use circuit in retail of hospital pharmacy practice) and their impacts. Were excluded articles about interviews, guidelines, practice models, curriculum and continuing education of pharmacy technicians. Each pharmacy technician activity was identified and collected. Each impact associated to a pharmacy technician activity was coded according to nine types of outcomes. Results. Sixty-eight studies were included. Fifty-four percent (37/68) of included studies had an observational design. A total of 62 positive outcomes associated to pharmacy technicians’ activities were reported in a total of 33 articles included. Activities associated to a positive impact were, in decreasing order, related to medication errors and discrepancies (n=20), workload management (n=12), costs, adverse drug reactions (n=3), morbidity (n=2), patient compliance and healthcare workers satisfaction (n=1) or others (n=20). No published studies were associated to negative outcomes. A total of 85 descriptive indicators associated to pharmacy technicians’ activities were identified in a total of 57 articles included. Conclusion. This literature review highlights the contribution of technical staff in supporting the practice of pharmacy. Pharmacy technicians contribute to a variety of activities and several studies show a favorable impact of their activity.

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