Y’know, I thought I ought to weigh in on something—the little brouhaha that developed following a recent article by Bill Brown where he targeted an ad by a relief agency that was seeking a pharmacy technician.In the ad, the agency referred to its ideal candidate as “better than the average pharmacist”.Some pharmacists variously described the statement as offensive and insulting, and claimed it does little to help the issues around their diminishing income.Insulting to whom? I worked for 27 years in community practice with quite a few pharmacists, and a whole lot more technicians.Some were better at the job than others, and a few were truly awesome—pharmacists and technicians both. What the technicians all were, however, was better at being a technician than any pharmacist.When did it become important to judge one role in comparison to the other? Why do we keep going back to the debate of technicians taking pharmacists jobs? They are different jobs.I was lucky to usually have great technicians. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to even try to be a competent pharmacist. It worked fine, though, because they had a different job than I did.So, if the ad meant “better than the average pharmacist” at being a technician, than who wouldn’t want someone above average? If, however, they meant that the roles are interchangeable, than clearly they don’t know what they are talking about.So, maybe we could ask for clarity. But, asking for apologies is irrelevant.There is a whole lot of things exclusively in the pharmacist’s scope of practice that patients can benefit from that currently aren’t being done, and one big excuse is no time. Using technicians to their full abilities is what allows the pharmacist to meet that potential.So let’s stop grousing about things being tough on pharmacists and blaming technicians for our lot. Value the role of technicians, regulated or otherwise, not because they are supposed to make pharmacist’s lives easier.But, rather, to give the pharmacist the opportunity to use their skillset more fully to the benefit of our patients, which is why all of us are here.We are working together, maybe more closely than with other members of the health team. And both pharmacy technicians and pharmacists are healthcare providers with important skills to offer.As such, why don’t we respond to any attack on either role as a lack of understanding or appreciation of two different yet complementary professions that need to be sustained, if not grown?
