Impact of Pharmacy Technicians on Clinician and Nurse Work Experience in Primary Care

Abstract

PURPOSE A mixed-methods study was conducted to determine if adding pharmacy technicians to primary care teams relieved clinicians and nurses of prescribing tasks and improved perceptions of administrative burden and quality of care. METHODS A retrospective mixed-methods study using a survey and analysis of electronic health record data was conducted 1 year after deployment of 5 primary care pharmacy technicians in a safety-net group of 11 primary care clinics. Measures included administrative data on pharmacy technician work, survey measures of clinician and nurse ratings of change in administrative burden and impact on patient care, and qualitative responses. Respondants to the survey included 46 physicians, 13 nurse practitioners or physician assistants, and 25 registered nurses (response rate 32%). RESULTS In 1 year, the 5 pharmacy technicians addressed 43,782 medication items (65% refills, 18% medication problem, 17% prior authorizations). Mean ratings among clinicians and nurses for medication access work on a pain point scale of 1 to 10 decreased from 8.3 to 3.6 (P