PharmPrac7e-Chapter15-WLpresentation

[Audio] Welcome to the Pharmacy Practice for Technicians Seventh Edition presentation..

[Audio] Chapter Fifteen: Professional Performance, Communications, and Ethics.

[Audio] At the end of this chapter, you will be able to: Discuss the concepts of professionalism and teamwork in the pharmacy. Identify and discuss desirable personal characteristics and attitudes of a pharmacy technician. Identify and resolve cultural and other differences in working with a customer. Identify and resolve challenges related to working with a customer with disabilities..

[Audio] Section fifteen point one: Professional Attributes and Practices.

[Audio] A successful pharmacy technician must possess a wide range of knowledge and skills and certain personal characteristics. It is important to get to know the ins and outs of pharmacy practice in any particular facility. Most pharmacies spell out policies in online or written materials known as a policy and procedure (P&P) manual that outlines the roles and responsibilities of staff members as well as the procedures of the facility..

[Audio] Appearance is the overall outward look of an employee on the job. How a technician looks on the job affects how other people perceive them. Choices in dress and grooming need to help encourage people to trust a technician, which means projecting a sense of official responsibility, precision, and cleanliness, as this is a career in the healthcare field..

[Audio] Decorum means proper and polite behavior, acting in good taste with civility. Arguing with an employer, colleagues, or patients is an example of impropriety, or a lack of decorum and civility..

[Audio] In the presence of patients, refer to the pharmacist as "Doctor" if they have a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. It is also important to refer to physicians, chiropractors, osteopathic professionals, and dentists using the title "Doctor" and to other supervisors using appropriate courtesy titles, such as "Ms.," "Mrs.," or "Mr.," plus the last name, or "Sir," "Madam," or "Ma'am." Customers deserve the same form of address..

[Audio] For eight hours or longer per day, technicians and pharmacists must work together along with others as a cohesive healthcare team to provide quality care and to process prescriptions for patients efficiently and safely. Each member must establish collegial relationships built upon respect for others, an appreciation of others' workplace contributions, and a willingness to help one another during busy times or in times of change..

[Audio] The glue that holds all teams together is communication. Communicating effectively takes practice and involves both verbal and nonverbal communication strategies..

[Audio] Technicians must take care of themselves as well as their patients. This may require some shifts in lifestyle that are conducive to being professional, such as avoiding illegal drugs, getting sufficient sleep, and exercising regularly..

[Audio] Section fifteen point two: Providing Professional Customer Service.

[Audio] In the community pharmacy, many things may be happening at once. In these circumstances, a good pharmacy technician will triage, or sort out the various types of requests, and handle those that are appropriate to specified duties and leave others that apply only to the pharmacist. To triage well, gather information from the customers to help discern their needs. Ask well-phrased, open ended questions that are appropriate to the type of information needed. An open-ended question allows the patient to share more information about their illness and provides more helpful information to the pharmacist for recommending the best treatment. Asking the patient open-ended questions like "Can you please describe your headache pain for me?" is always preferable. While gathering information or serving a patient, it is important to act with empathy, which is the ability to share and understand another person's feelings..

[Audio] Section fifteen point three: Telephone Courtesies.

[Audio] Customers and healthcare professionals often contact pharmacies by telephone. The following are some guidelines for using the telephone properly. When you answer the phone, identify yourself and the pharmacy, as in "Good morning, Reinhardt's Pharmacy. My name is Jess. How may I help you?" Always begin and close the conversation with a conventional courtesy like "Good morning" and "Thank you for calling." If a prescriber is calling in a new or emergency order, turn the call over to the pharmacist on duty. Make sure that any information you provide is accurate. Giving incorrect directions to a customer in need of a prescription can be a life-threatening mistake..

[Audio] We live in an increasingly culturally and ethnically diverse society. According to 2014 US Census Bureau estimates, the majority (60.7%) of the US population was non-Hispanic white Americans, which is a diverse group encompassing individuals of many cultural Slavic and European backgrounds. Latin Americans (or Latinx) made up 18.1% of the population, followed by African Americans at a little over 13%, Asian Americans at nearly 6%, and 2.7% multiracial Americans. Within the Asian community there are diverse cultural differences among the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, East Indian, and other populations. The non-Hispanic white populations are trending down while the other population sectors are trending upward..

[Audio] It is helpful to be aware of cultural trends when striving for understanding and overcoming cultural barriers and communicating with respect. It is very important to avoid letting observations of simple trends solidify into flat stereotypes. A stereotype is an oversimplified characteristic of a group of people. It is a generic image of a group of people based on patterns, word-of-mouth stories, prejudiced attitudes, opinions, or uncritical judgments about isolated incidents blown into sweeping generalizations. Considering the complex history of race relations in the United States, it is not surprising that many minority cultures do not always accept or trust current medical practice or recommendations. Pharmacy personnel need to be sensitive to these long-standing cultural memories and belief systems..

[Audio] The pharmacy technician should also be understanding of the unique health concerns and needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender populations in the communities they serve. Certain diseases are on the rise among specific ethnic groups for a mixture of many different reasons. For example, the incidence of diabetes is much higher among Mexican Americans and Native Americans. The African American population has a higher incidence of hypertension, stroke, and kidney disease. Technicians should be mindful of these issues. For patients with physical disabilities, pharmacy personnel should make every effort to accommodate their needs. These accommodations may include recommending drive-through service, using non-childproof container lids, providing assistance in obtaining items from shelves, or ensuring their comfort during the medication filling process..

[Audio] Section fifteen point four: Problem-Solving Abilities.

[Audio] It is not uncommon to encounter angry customers. They may be angry prior to even coming into the pharmacy, for reasons unrelated to the pharmacy visit. Use the acronym L-E-A-D when dealing with an angry customer. L-Listen E-Explain why it happened A-Acknowledge that it is a legitimate problem D-Discuss to decide how to resolve the issue and thank the customer Studies have demonstrated a 20% increase in employee productivity when using a similar protocol to handle an angry or unsatisfied customer..

[Audio] Section fifteen point five: Adhering to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

[Audio] the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a comprehensive federal law passed in 1996 to protect patients' privat all healthcare professionals are bound by law and ethics not to disclose information about consultations, diagnoses, tests, services, and medications, as well as any personal identifiers, outside the immediate pharmacy workplace. This is all considered protected health information (PHI)..

[Audio] Section fifteen point six: Personal Professional Ethics.

[Audio] Moral obligations exist that are not legal obligations, and vice versa. Ethics puts communal values into standards of conduct and moral judgment based on accepted rights and wrongs of behavior and character. Ethical codes of behavior in pharmacy are based on a trusting relationship. Patients have to put their trust in the knowledge, competency, honesty, and integrity of the pharmacist and the technician each time they request a prescription. Social sanctions are negative repercussions provided by the profession and/or society if trust is broken. An ethical dilemma is a situation that calls for a judgment between two or more solutions, not all of which are necessarily wrong. Deciding which action to take in the pharmacy requires considering the circumstances, choosing an action, and justifying the action..

[Audio] Section fifteen point seven: Corporate Ethics/Medical Identity Theft and Fraud.

[Audio] In addition to a personal code of ethics, many organizations have a code of business conduct policy that all employees agree to maintain. This policy spells out the highest standards of ethical behavior and professional conduct. Pharmacies must also abide by state and federal laws, such as the Red Flags Rule, which means having software systems that set up red flags when potential identity theft or fraudulent activities occur, and the False Claims Act, which imposes penalties on trying to defraud government programs with made-up claims). Besides regular retail billing issues with customer credit and identity information, pharmacies may be subject to medical identity theft—that is, a person who seeks health care using someone else's name, credit card, or insurance information. Each healthcare provider is required by federal law to have a policy and a training program in place to help employees spot warning signs or "red flags" to prevent medical identity theft..

[Audio] Section fifteen point eight: Safe, Green Pharmacy.

[Audio] What to do with unused medications is also a matter of corporate and professional ethics as well as public safety. Safe disposal in the home, pharmacy, and institutional settings helps to control drug abuse and prevent environmental pollution. Pharmacy personnel can educate consumers and help them dispose of their unused medications. Experts say that the first, best option for consumers handling unused or expired medications is to return them to the pharmacy where they were dispensed. Each pharmacy can establish its own safe medication return container. The National Community Pharmacists Association offers a Dispose My Meds program for over 1,600 participating independent pharmacy members. Syringes, needles, and lancets are considered "sharps" and should not be discarded in common trash receptacles, whether at the pharmacy or at home. It is mandatory that all of these items be thrown away in a sharps container. The sharps container should be placed in the pharmacy in a secure location away from children, and when nearly full (75%), it should be sealed, labeled, and mailed to a designated vendor according to pharmacy protocol. During the day, a typical pharmacy as a business will accumulate a great deal of waste. Several times during the day a pharmacy technician may need to empty the trash baskets, seal the trash bags, and bring them to a trash bin for pickup or incineration..

[Audio] Section fifteen point nine: Emergency Preparedness.

[Audio] In other emergencies, such as epidemics or natural disasters, all pharmacy personnel may be called into action to help support the community. In the event of a serious epidemic, it's important to understand the pharmacy's plan. Can it be a source of information and education for patients? Can the pharmacy share personnel with the department of public health? What type of protective gear will be available, and which personnel will receive vaccines or antiviral medications if dealing with the public? Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, blizzards, and fires, can be devastating to both a business and a community. It is even more important to have a well-thought- out and well-written disaster plan. That plan should be communicated to employees and followed up with training programs and drills. A pharmacy technician can offer to work with the owner of the pharmacy to develop this plan..

[Audio] This concludes the Pharmacy Practice for Technicians Seventh Edition presentation for Chapter Fifteen..