13-Feb-08 9:30 AM CST
NPTA Responds to USA Today Articles
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.
Links to USA TODAY articles:
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Source: NPTA
http://www.pharmacytechnician.org
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