Evaluation of a novel advanced pharmacy technician role: Discharge Medication Education Technician

Background: Despite evidence to support pharmacists practicing in advanced scope roles, embedding such roles into practice is challenging. Upskilling hospital pharmacy technicians (HPTs) to undertake selected clinical support roles under indirect supervision could relieve pharmacists from non-complex tasks. Aim: To compare patient satisfaction with routine postoperative discharge medication education provided by a HPT or pharmacists in a short-stay surgery setting. Method: An HPT completed a comprehensive training program to become a credentialed medication education technician (MEdTech). Consecutive overnight-staying patients were assigned to receive education by the MEdTech or pharmacists according to staff availability. Patient satisfaction with their education experience was measured via telephone calls the day following discharge. The hospital's Research Office approved this study as quality improvement. Results: Overall, 341 patients were screened and 217 met-all inclusion criteria. Two hundred patients provided feedback (100 educated by the MEdTech and 100 by pharmacists). All patients reported high levels of overall satisfaction with their education experience, irrespective of which pharmacy staff member provided the education; a finding supported by the qualitative feedback. Significantly more MEdTech-educated patients were very satisfied with the amount of information provided (92% vs 79%) and ease of following the education (97% vs 86%) than pharmacist-educated patients, respectively. Conclusion: This study supports advanced practice HPTs assisting with the provision of medication information to patients. This novel workforce model could facilitate pharmacists working in advanced-scope roles by having advanced HPTs undertake uncomplicated aspects of clinical pharmacy within a defined scope of practice and with specific pharmacist referral criteria.