Implementation of product verification technicians in the inpatient pharmacy setting

Staffing challenges prompted the implementation of product verification technicians (PVTs) to maximize existing pharmacist resources and better align pharmacists' expertise with clinical workflows.

The system medication safety team evaluated the feasibility and safety of implementing the PVT role in the inpatient acute care pharmacy across all routinely dispensed medication dosage forms. To support implementation and build staff confidence, an internal proof-of-concept evaluation comparing pharmacists and technicians was conducted. The state Board of Pharmacy was petitioned to grant a waiver permitting pharmacy technicians to check compounded medications until the law could be updated to allow for such practice. Concurrently, training materials, standard workflow documents, and policy were created to support implementation. Collaboration with human resources and finance led to the development of two new job roles. A quality assurance audit process was implemented for pharmacists and PVTs.

The implementation of the PVT role enabled the reallocation of pharmacist resources to clinical care while maintaining high product verification accuracy. At the time of publication, eight PVTs covered 3.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) of distributive verification shifts, enabling the reallocation of 3.0 pharmacist FTE to clinical roles. The PVTs are viewed as leaders among their peers and have driven standardization of processes to ensure consistency. Efforts are ongoing to recruit and expand PVTs to staff roles 24/7 and other pharmacies across the health system. Quality assurance validation and audit data demonstrated verification accuracy comparable to pharmacist benchmarks during implementation.