ON-Script Podcast

In this episode of On Script, Jeremy and special guest co-host, Lyndsey McDonald, Director of Retail Pharmacy Relationships at NHA, have a discussion with Raymond McCall, Chief Strategy Officer for Medly Pharmacy. 

Raymond discusses Medly’s unique business model, merging technology and pharmacy practice to deliver innovative patient care, and how they leverage pharmacy technicians as one of their foundational cornerstones to deliver the best possible customer service.  Additionally, Raymond shares a little bit about Medly’s ambitious growth aspirations to serve patients all across the US, and the importance of staffing highly trained pharmacy technicians and giving them opportunities to grow professionally within the Medly organization. 

If you’re a pharmacy professional looking for new opportunities to join an innovative company, be sure to check their Careers page often as Medly rapidly expands to new markets near you.  You don’t want to miss this episode!

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In this Episode of On Script, Jeremy and Jessica interview Dr. Sarah Carpio, PharmD, Dr. Joanne Canedo, PharmD, and Valerie Wasem from Touro University California College of Pharmacy to discuss expanded pharmacy technician roles in a post-pandemic landscape.  As two recent PharmD graduates, and a current second year pharmacy student, Drs. Carpio and Canedo, and PharmD. candidate Valerie Wasem started their pharmacy careers as technicians prior to being admitted into pharmacy school, and have continued to work side by side with pharmacy techs in multiple settings.  These guests recognize the value that technicians bring to pharmacy practice, and the importance of continuing to move forward with advancing pharmacy technician practice.  Finally, we discuss an article they coauthored for the this year’s Pharmacy Technician Supplement from Pharmacy Times entitled “Postpandemic Future is Bright for Technicians.” 

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In this episode, Jeremy and Jessica speak with Dr. Shane Desselle, RPh, PhD, FAPhA from Touro University California College of Pharmacy and Dr. Kenneth Hohmeier, Pharm.D. from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy about their ongoing research in pharmacy technician workforce issues. 

As more and more attention is being paid to the work pharmacy technicians do, and the instant change in scope of practice brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Drs. Desselle and Hohmeier’s work is particularly apropos.  They discuss their published paper, “Exploring the implementation of a novel optimizing care model in the community pharmacy setting,” for which they were awarded the 2020 Wiederholt Prize by the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. 

The paper explores the positive impact technician product verification can have on enhancing patient care delivery, as well as successes and concerns with implementing such a model.

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In this episode, Jeremy and Jessica talk with Paul Sabatini, M.Ed, CPhT, FCSHP.  Paul has worked in the pharmacy profession for 30 years.  Most recently, he was recognized by the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) and NHA as the recipient of the 2020 Pharmacy Technician of the Year Award. His dynamic and unique career path has not only involved working in multiple pharmacy settings, but has also been a force in higher education in the state of California. 

As an instructor, and program director of pharmacy technician educational programs, Paul has helped countless individuals to prepare for and launch successful careers in pharmacy. Recently, his mission to improve the workforce has been demonstrated through his relentless work to advocate for and organize pharmacy technicians to advance their skills and scope of practice in the state of California.  You won’t want to miss this episode, especially if you’re a technician practicing in California! 

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In this episode of OnScript, Jeremy and Jessica have Jim Palatine, RPH, MBA, President of Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ (PTce), as a guest to discuss continuing education and advanced training offerings for pharmacy technicians and what they have on the horizon for 2021. 

Top of mind to continue pharmacy’s efforts in combating COVID-19, PTce has developed a certificate program for pharmacy technicians and pharmacists to meet the CDC’s provider training recommendations for providing the COVID-19 vaccine.  As a bonus, PTce has extended a discount to OnScript listeners, allowing them to access all 10 accredited webinars (10 total credits) for just $75. 

Just use code NHA2021 at checkout.  The webinar series can be accessed at https://www.pharmacytimes.org/advance.  Once completed, a certificate of completion will be provided.  In addition to this great training resource, PTce continues to offer, at no charge, CE courses for techs and pharmacists… you don’t want to miss this episode!

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2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, but especially for healthcare workers on the front lines. Due to this, it’s more important now than ever, that pharmacy technicians practice at the very top of their license. While boards of pharmacy have traditionally limited pharmacy technician practice from performing such tasks like final product verification, administering immunizations to patients, or performing CLIA-waived point of care testing, more and more states are undergoing the process of reviewing, discussing, and in some cases changes their rules to permit properly trained technicians to perform these and other tasks. To further seize on this trend, NHA has spearheaded an initiative to bring together representatives from some of the biggest pharmacy organizations in the industry. 

The initiative, The Coalition for the Advancement of Pharmacy Technician Practice, aims to work together to stay up to date with current state boards of pharmacy that are discussing this very important topic, and to engage other state boards of pharmacy to consider broadening pharmacy technician scope of practice. By bringing together retail pharmacy  giants like Albertsons Companies, Walmart, Kroger and Walgreens, along with state pharmacy associations, pharmacy academicians, and organizations such as the Pharmacy Technician Educators Council, the coalition’s collective voice and singular mission is to further expedite the spread of states allowing pharmacy technicians to do more.  This support from the industry will be key to continuing to elevate the pharmacy profession across the nation.

In this episode, OnScript brings together representatives from some of the coalition’s partnering organizations to discuss the importance of expanding pharmacy technician roles and the positive impact that has been realized in those states that have already expanded pharmacy technician practice. It is fitting and timely that this discussion happen on Pharmacy Technician’s Day to show pharmacy technicians that the industry recognizes the important role they play in all pharmacies and how critical it is to advocate and be an additional voice for the technician workforce, and also pass on the gratitude that each of these organizations have for the work technicians are doing everyday. You don’t want to miss this episode! 

For more information on the Coalition for the Advancement of Pharmacy Technician Practice, or to contact the coalition if you and/or organization want to get involved, please visit www.pharmtechcoalition.com.

Special Guests: 

Dr. Shane Desselle, PhD, FAPhA – Professor, Touro University California College of Pharmacy

President, Applied Pharmacy Solutions

Editor, Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy

Todd Eury - Founder & CEO of the Pharmacy Podcast Network 

Kevin Hope – Executive Director Pharmacy Technician Educators Council (PTEC)

Director of CE and Compliance, PharmCon (FreeCE.com)

Rob Geddes – Director, Pharmacy Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Albertsons Companies, Inc.

Deanna Seiler – Director, Clinical Services and Professional Relations, Walmart

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In this episode, Jeremy and Jessica have a discussion with our neighbors from the North.  Dr. Alam Hallan, Director of Pharmacy and Lead Pharmacy Technician, Lori Hayden, from Guelph General Hospital in Guelph, Ontario discuss the pharmacy landscape in Canada, and the trends toward pharmacists and technicians alike taking on more roles and responsibilities. 

Similar to states regulating pharmacy practice in the US, pharmacy regulations can vary greatly from province to province.  With some national standards to be a pharmacy technicians, we discuss what it takes to practice in Canada as a whole, as well as specific provincial requirements in Ontario. 

With a single payer national healthcare system, they compare and contrast the benefits and struggles of both the US and Canadian healthcare systems with regard to remuneration for services as scope of practice expands.  Don’t miss this episode that provides insights into pharmacy practice outside of the US.

 Coalition for Advancing Pharmacy Technician

For more information about the Coalition for Advancing Pharmacy Technician Practice, please visit: https://info.nhanow.com/pt-coalition

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Pharmacist Moms Supporting Pharmacy Technician Moms

Work/life balance can be difficult to achieve, especially for working professionals who also carry the title of “mom.”  In this episode, Jeremy and Jessica interview Dr. Suzy Soliman, the founder of the Facebook group “Pharmacist Moms.” 

Launched in 2017, the Pharmacist Moms Facebook group has amassed ~35,000 members… all moms, all pharmacists. 

Since the early 2000s, the number of pharmacy school graduates has been on the rise, with women making up the majority during most of those years. Since women now make up a growing part of the pharmacy community, Soliman had the idea was to create a supportive community to share ideas, frustrations, and tips on parenting, advancing their career, or just have fun.  Because of the group’s success, there is now a subgroup for pharmacy technician moms. 

Throughout this episode, we discuss why it's important for technicians to have an outlet of their own to help each other move toward achieving a healthy work/life balance.

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In this episode of OnScript with NHA, co-hosts Jessica Langley-Loep and Jeremy Sasser are joined by Susan Bonilla, the newly-appointed CEO of the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA). Starting her professional career as a high school English teacher, Susan eventually began serving the public through elected positions starting with city council and eventually being elected to the California state assembly. Susan chaired committees that oversaw the pharmacist advanced practice bill as well as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Combining her love of education and public service make leading CPhA a great fit for Susan.

Throughout this episode, Susan discusses a few initiatives CPhA is undertaking in 2020, as well as discussing how COVID-19 has changed the healthcare landscape in CA, and what CPhA is doing to advocate for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and their continued safety during this pandemic. The collaboration between NHA and CPhA is also highlighted and how both organizations are working to advance the practice of pharmacy technicians and advocate for more involvement and engagement between pharmacy technicians and CPhA, with a goal of more technicians taking advantage of CPhA-provided leadership training. Finally, while COVID-19 has not allowed for any travel since becoming CEO, Susan is looking forward to being able to travel around the state and have the opportunity to meet pharmacy techs across the state and find what CPhA can do to better serve them.

For all the ON-Script podcasts, go here: 

https://info.nhanow.com/learning-leading-blog/tag/on-script-podcast 

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In this episode of OnScript with NHA, co-hosts Jeremy Sasser and Jessica Langley-Loep discuss interprofessional and interdisciplinary relationships between pharmacy technicians and pharmacy interns, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals.

Joining the discussion are two pharmacy students from Husson University School of Pharmacy, Miranda Jandreau and Cody Moller. Cody is in his final year of pharmacy school, and Miranda is in her 2nd year of pharmacy school, but both were pharmacy technicians before deciding to pursue their PharmD degree. The importance of not only fostering strong relationships, but building trust between technicians, interns, and pharmacists cannot be overstated. Seeking to better understand the training and scope of practice of each role can help breakdown barriers that may exist.

This episode is sponsored by the University of California Irvine, UCI, Master of Science in Pharmacology, learn more: https://sites.uci.edu/mspharmacology/ 

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