A qualitative evaluation of pharmacy technician opinions about administering immunizations

Vaccine administration by pharmacy technicians: Impact on vaccination volume, pharmacy workflow and job satisfaction

Background

Immunizing pharmacy technicians (IPTs) have become more prevalent in recent years, but their impact on community pharmacy practice has yet to be determined.

Objectives

Determine the impact of implementing IPTs on vaccination volume in a community pharmacy chain and assess pharmacy staff's perspectives on the clinical abilities of IPTs and their impact on pharmacy workflow and job satisfaction.

Methods

Retrospective data analysis comparing the number of vaccines administered in a supermarket pharmacy chain from September to March 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 in pharmacies with IPT(s) versus those without IPT(s). For the secondary objective, investigators developed and deployed two role-based mixed quantitative/qualitative surveys among pharmacy staff.

Results

Pharmacies with IPT(s) observed a greater mean increase in vaccination volume from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021 versus those without IPTs (+159.35 vs. +104.57, p = 0.011). Among IPT survey respondents, 50/75 (66.7%) felt more satisfied with their job after receiving immunization training. Among pharmacist respondents, 80/119 (67.3%) felt that IPTs positively impacted their job satisfaction and 61.7% felt that pharmacist clinical services were either somewhat positively affected, or positively affected.

Conclusion

Implementing IPTs can increase the volume of vaccines administered in a chain pharmacy and may positively affect job satisfaction and pharmacy workflow.