Pharmacy technicians

Transcript

Welcome to the pharmacy technician page.

There are approximately 20,000 pharmacy technicians currently registered in England working in various roles, at different levels, in all sectors. CPPE offer funded learning to all pharmacy technicians who provide NHS services in England.

This page is a hub for pharmacy technician learning, from early years, foundation level to advanced practice. It will include return to the register, signposting to external learning resources and other relevant articles. The aim is to have a wide range of learning materials for pharmacy technicians housed in one place.

Have a look at these resources and events that can support you as a pharmacy technician to advance your knowledge and skills for the benefit of people who you offer pharmaceutical care to.

The aim of this self-directed e-course is to support you to recognise how your skills, knowledge, understanding and professional behaviours allow you to provide safe and effective care to the people you serve, as the pharmacy technician role continues to evolve.

You will complete a self-assessment framework to help you to identify your personal learning needs and this will direct you to specific elements of this e-course that will help you to meet them.

Learning Outcomes:

• identify resources to enable you to meet your personal learning needs
• demonstrate how your knowledge, skills, experience and role have evolved since your initial training
• develop your reflective skills and apply these as part of your continuing professional development (CPD) and revalidation
• build evidence showing how your development has enabled you to meet updated learning outcomes from the GPhC 2017 Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians.

This e-learning from CPPE has been developed to support pharmacy technicians to further their understanding of professionalism, apply professional judgement in different situations and develop knowledge to improve patient care, experiences and outcomes.

Learning Outcomes:

• define professionalism and identify factors that influence behaviour, performance or attitude
• state the GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals and explain how they relate to your role
• demonstrate application of professional judgement, recognising the limits of your capabilities and balancing the needs of the person
• employ critical thinking skills to analyse available information and make decisions, which you can justify
• identify areas of professionalism or professional decision-making for self-improvement.

The Consultation skills for pharmacy practice (CSfPP) website has been developed in association with Health Education England to support pharmacy professionals in developing patient-centred consultation practice; it presents a six-step learning and development pathway with useful tools and resources to support personal reflection, learning and assessment.

You can access this website here: Consultation skills for pharmacy practice

Learning Outcomes:

• explain why consultation skills are important for all pharmacy professionals
• recognise your professional responsibility to reflect on and develop your consultation skills, by working towards the new practice standards
• establish how productive your consultation skills are currently and identify key areas on which to build your expertise
• describe and apply the key skills, models and techniques that support a patient-centred approach to your consultation practice
• engage in the CSfPP assessment process to review your learning and development effectively
• explore how you can continue to develop your skills and behaviours in practice.

CPPE Pharmacy technician impact groups are a series of small group sessions for pharmacy technicians who would like to develop their skills and confidence further.

This e-assessment is linked with the practice standards for consultation skills and the CPPE consultation skills learning programmes.

Why should I do this assessment?

Completing this assessment will help you to check your progress and your ability to meet the competencies set out in the practice standards for consultation skills. Passing the assessment will provide assurance to you, your colleagues, other healthcare professionals and patients that you are able to recognise good practice, as well as practice that needs development.

Access and successful completion of this assessment will contribute to your own personal development plan, be recorded in your My CPPE record and will enable you to complete a CPD entry on the learning. It may also provide evidence for achieving competencies in the RPS Foundation or Advanced Pharmacy Frameworks. If you are working towards completing a Declaration of Competence for a pharmacy service, successful completion of this assessment will provide evidence of your learning.

Most of us have faced a situation of conflict or difference of opinion at some time. This programme will help you have a clearer understanding of conflict and how it arises. By reading through this guide and taking part in the exercises it includes you will be more equipped to resolve conflict satisfactorily in a way which can result in a positive outcome for all involved.

Please note: after ordering this programme, you will be redirected to an external website where the resource is hosted. Please be aware that CPPE does not maintain control over the accuracy and currency of this programme.

Learning Outcomes:

• recognise conflict and its causes
• respond appropriately to different types of behaviour including assertive and aggressive behaviour
• appropriately manage your own behaviour
• know when to step in and defuse a situation.

This link is to the NHS Leadership Academy programmes to help you grow as a leader.

Find out more about the CPPE Accuracy checking pharmacy technician (ACPT) programme.

This e-learning programme provides key information about repeat dispensing, practical implications of implementing the service and how to use electronic repeat dispensing. It is an interactive programme including videos, quizzes and reflective exercises.

Learning Outcomes:

• describe what the NHS repeat dispensing service is and the rules and regulations governing the service
• explain how to provide a safe and efficient repeat dispensing service
• list nine key requirements of repeat dispensing
• explain repeat dispensing and its benefits to patients and assess whether the service is suitable for them
• compare and contrast paper-based and electronic repeat dispensing
• list the benefits and challenges associated with repeat dispensing from a prescriber, practice staff, pharmacy team and patient perspective.

With the increased pressures and demands of pharmacy, this programme discusses how skill mix can improve your work efficacy and how to conduct an effective skill mix.

Learning Outcomes:

• identify what skill mix is and why it is important
• explain the potential benefits of skill mix
• list some successful examples of skill mix
• devise a skill mix review
• plan a role redesign in your workplace.