Specialty technician training program development

ABSTRACT

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic worsened a nationwide technician shortage with negative impacts on pharmacy workflow and patient care. Barriers to entering the pharmacy field as a technician included lack of years of experience and training, specifically in specialty pharmacy technician (SPT) roles that require one year of experience and advanced certification. With our growing business, the ability to hire SPT's has been a challenge. Currently, Yale New Haven Health (YNHH) offers an ASHP/ACPE accredited Pharmacy Technician Training Program that prepares individuals for a pharmacy career in all practice settings, the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) exam, as well as the opportunity for practical experience in multiple practice settings and areas, including specialty pharmacy. The twenty-three week long program (we have removed the PTCB requirement to align with the changes in job description across the system that requires PTCB within 1 year of hire) is equivalent to one year of pharmacy experience. The YNHH health system specialty pharmacy (HSSP) collaborated with the YNHH Pharmacy Technician Training Program to create a specialty pharmacy focused track. Objective(s) To increase the HSSP SPT candidate pool through the creation of a HSSP focused pharmacy technician training program rotation tract. Method(s) Rotation objectives were created to ensure compliance with American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) accreditation standards, in addition to training objective that include exposure to all technician based positions within the specialty pharmacy realm. The traditional nineweek experiential rotation tract was adapted to allow seven weeks of specialty pharmacy focused rotations. Enrollment into the specialty pharmacy focused track was limited to one student per cohort for the first three rotation cycles. The number of students who completed the rotation and were retained as HSSP SPT's was tracked. Specialty technician content experts within the HSSP were identified to serve as program preceptors. Specialty Pharmacy Supervisors also serve as rotation site coordinators for this tract. Result(s) The development of the specialty pharmacy focused track of the YNHH Pharmacy Technician Training Program took five months. The specialty pharmacy focused track was first available to students on 28 March, 2022. Of the two students that entered the specialty pharmacy focused track, both students have completed the program and are being retained as SPT's. Conclusion(s) A specialty focused pharmacy technician training program can be a novel strategy to address HSSP pharmacy technician staffing shortage.