![]() ![]() ![]() Such events may be related to professional practice, healthcare products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing, order communication, product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature, compounding, dispensing, distribution, administration, education, monitoring, and use.” 3 The Institute of Medicine reports (based on a single publication) that medication errors stemming from all causes may lead to 1 of 131 outpatient deaths and 1 of 854 inpatient deaths. 2 According to the United States National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, a medication error is defined as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer. 1 Elimination of medication errors is complex given the host of factors involved, including differences in knowledge and experience of healthcare workers, patient variability, work environments, computerized information systems, and medication-specific nuances. ![]() Pharmacy technicians play an important role in the identification, resolution, and avoidance of medication errors, including those that result from pharmacy calculation errors. Achieving competence in pharmacy calculations can help prevent patient harm. Pharmacy calculations are integral to medication dosing, which relies on a multitude of patient-specific factors including age, sex, weight, and organ (eg, kidney or liver) function. Before pursuing advanced responsibilities, you must first build a solid foundation and competency of core tasks, with accurate pharmacy calculations being a cornerstone skill set regardless of the patient care setting. Advanced roles may include supervisory responsibilities as well as work in areas such as sterile and nonsterile product admixture, pharmacy automation, health information technology, drug diversion, purchasing, and investigational drug services. Now, thanks to advanced education and training programs, the current and future roles and responsibilities will continue to expand. Historically, the pharmacy technician’s role has focused almost exclusively on the preparation and dispensing of medications. Regardless of the setting, pharmacy technicians work closely with pharmacists and other members of the healthcare team to ensure patients receive the correct medication. As contributing members of healthcare teams, pharmacy technicians are employed in virtually every practice setting, such as inpatient care (hospitals) community care (retail) ambulatory care (clinics) specialty pharmacy long-term care (nursing homes) and mail order. Whether that encounter is direct via face-to-face customer service or indirect through preparation and dispensing of patient-specific medications, your role and responsibility as a member of the healthcare team cannot be understated. As a future pharmacy technician, you will play an integral role in optimizing patient outcomes and promoting medication safety with each patient encounter. ![]()
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