NPTA Responds to USA Today Articles

NPTA — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:30:00 GMT

This week USA TODAY published a series of articles, entitled Rx for Errors, which focuses primarily on the connection between pharmacy technicians and medication errors occuring in chain drug stores, such as CVS and Walgreens.

Since 1999, the National Pharmacy Technician Association (NPTA) has advocated for increased regulatory standards to become mandatory across the U.S. In essence, NPTA believes that in order to practice, pharmacy technicians should be required to:

complete a standardized formal education/training program
complete a national competency-based exam, e.g. ICPT, PTCB
register with their State Board of Pharmacy

As NPTA has lobbyed for these standards, we have found chain drug stores and the retail federation to be the primary force of opposition, which yield tremendous influence with the State Boards of Pharmacy.Conversly, NPTA has found the public, health-system pharmacies, professional associations and the majority of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in support of such standards.

In many states, profits are being placed ahead of patients. This is evidenced by:

inadequate average salaries for Certified Pharmacy Technicians
opposition to increased requirements for pharmacy technicians
corporate emphasis on unrealistic volume and speed
poor working conditions for pharmacists and technicians, e.g. breaks
insufficient patient counseling

NPTA believes that a single medication error is one too many. NPTA calls on the chain drug stores and retail federation to publicly support these initiatives and lobby the State Boards of Pharmacy to institute these requirements. Until such time, we can expect more medication errors, liability lawsuits and negative press to erode the public's trust in our industry.

NPTA's Positions

Fact Sheet

Links to USA TODAY articles:

Inside a pharmacy where a fatal error occurred

Drugstore chains rely on pharmacy technicians

Five-year old took wrong medication for two months

Pharmacist: Corporate policies, working conditions don't cause errors

13-Feb-08 9:30 AM

NPTA - Articles

NPTA Responds to USA Today Articles