Pharmacy Technician Program
Pharmacy Technician Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 22, 2012 4-5:30 pm
Members present
Jody Bloemke, Anne Willaert, Jeffrey Smith, Matt Anthony, David Hanson, W.C. Sanders, Amanda Denn, Noah Smith, LuAnn Marti, Jim Armbruster, Summer Gioffre
Members absent
Amanda Emerick, Amy Miller, Brent Blair, Gary Swedberg, Heather Milton, Jerome Borth, Reid Horning, Sarah Caven
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 pm by the SCC Pharmacy Technician Advisory Board Chair Jim Armbruster. All members were welcomed and introduced themselves along with their jobs/roles in the pharmacy/SCC communities. Jim invited all members of the board to be active team members. Members were asked to sign in on the sign-in sheet as well as to update their contact information for the board’s records.
Minutes
Key items of the minutes of the last meeting (September 29, 2011) were brought to the board’s attention by Jim Armbruster. Jim read back to the board what had been previously stated as important skills/competencies of pharmacy technicians as well as the board approved changes to the pharmacy technician program competencies. He reminded the board that we should be keeping these competencies in mind when making decisions involving the program.
The minutes of the previous meeting (September 29, 2011) were approved as submitted.
1st- Noah 2nd- LuAnn/Amanda. All voted and approved the motion.
New Business
Department of Labor Grant Update- Anne Willaert
Anne presented the board with an update on the Department of Labor (DOL) grant, which the pharmacy technician program is currently being funded through. She stated that we are into the second year of the three year grant. The DOL grant ends on February 28, 2013. This grant will end in the middle of the semester. This grant is required to serve a total of 671 students, which are in 5 new programs and a CNA skills strengthening program. The pharmacy technician program is just one of the programs that helps to meet this total requirement of students. The grant requires the pharmacy technician program to have 48 students participate in the program. Twenty-eight of those students must graduate with a 95% placement rate (26 students) and retention of 23 students.
Originally this program came from Riverland College in Austin, MN. The grant is making great progress and was able to create a pharmacy lab on the North Mankato campus and is currently working on building a similar lab on the Faribault campus that will be available for student use in fall 2012. The lab that is being built on the Faribault campus will be attached to the simulation lab used by many of the healthcare programs. Plans are being worked on for updating a customer service area that will be used by the Pharmacy Technician, Health Unit Coordinator, and Medical Assisting programs. This area will be used for third party billing, customer service, and electronic health record entry.
Anne stated that the second part of the grant includes the placement of students into positions. The grant has hired Jody Bloemke into this full time position. Jody will by working with students and employers on placement. Support staff has also been hired for grant tracking. The grant is required to track students after they have graduated and after they have been placed in employment. The grant is also able to provide follow-up services for students such as vouchers for work attire and transportation expenses. Kelly Berkey has been hired with grant funds, to help in preparation for accreditation. She will be aiding in tracking and following up with students. She will also be interacting with students through social media programs. Amy Miller and Kasey Tufto have been hired as transition coordinators. They will be assisting students in advising, enrolling in programs, and voucher requests (for items such as childcare, housing, books, gas, etc.).
Jim asked if the grant was renewable. Anne replied that it was not, however, there are new grant opportunities that are becoming available. At the end of January the grant received a visit from the DOL grant monitoring review team. The SCC grant team received high remarks from this visit. This good report will give SCC more opportunities to apply for new grants as they become available. It was also mentioned that when this program was received from Riverland it was not a quality program. Great advances have been made in this program, though it is still in the process of change and working through issues.
The ultimate goal of the grant is sustainability of the individual programs. Sustainability is based upon the number of students enrolling in the programs. The pharmacy technician program has been capped at a maximum of 25 students each fall. W.C. stated that this is a very popular program. When this program was brought in from Riverland, it was not capped. The increasing numbers of students was brought to the attention of the program, and a cap was put in place at just the right time. Having the program on both campuses will be beneficial with this number of enrolled students.
The DOL grant is also partnering with the Center for Business and Industry (CBI) with a position that will be able to offer CEU’s for healthcare programs with the goal of meeting the needs of employers and industry leaders. The upcoming changes in the MN Board of Pharmacy laws will be beneficial to the future of this program as well as the development of a partnership with CBI and industry leaders.
It was brought to the attention of the board that some pharmacy technician programs struggle because students of pharmacy programs are brought in as technicians. The board felt that this is a struggle in towns that are closer to a pharmacy school and would rarely be seen in this area.
W.C. spoke to the issue of the sustainability of the program. He began by stating that these discussions have already been had with the faculty of the program- Summer Gioffre and Heather Milton. At this point in time, this program will be sustainable as a 1.25 FTE for the next year. This means that this program will be able to support 1 full-time faculty member and one 0.25 part-time or adjunct faculty member. Discussions will be held with human resources in the near future on the process to fill the 1 full-time position.
Placement Services
Jody Bloemke has been hired by the DOL grant to work with students and industry partners in placement services. Jody is available to help students find employment. There is a new SCC Job Bank that is available. Jody gave out cards with specific information on this job bank. The job bank may be accessed at https://southcentral-csm.symplicity.com/ Employers are able to post jobs and internships, search for resumes, receive on-line applications and schedule on campus interviews with students. Students are also able to upload their resumes and search for employment using the job bank. Jody will be working with students to build their resumes and increase their soft-skills to prepare them for employment.
Job fairs will be held on both campuses: April 10th 3-5 pm on the Faribault campus and April 11th 11-1 pm on the North Mankato campus. The job fair will be an open fair with tables set up in the corridor by the conference center. If a more private meeting area is desired, arrangements can be made. Jim stated that first impressions of a candidate can give employers a fairly accurate impression of the person. If interested in participating in either job fair please contact Jody.
Amanda brought up the fact that the internships can help the students get their foot in the door at a facility. However, timing is also crucial. When a pharmacy needs a technician, they need one immediately. Building a relationship with the pharmacy manager can be crucial in the job search process. Also, job shadowing in a pharmacy, even for a short amount of time, can give the manager a sense of what type of employee the student would potentially be. Amanda stated that passion, not just knowledge, is important in a pharmacy technician. LuAnn mentioned that a current pharmacy technician student had come to interview her for a project. She was very impressed with this student. An opening became available at her pharmacy and the student was hired!
Jim also mentioned that he has used the MSU job bank extensively in the past when looking for candidates to fill pharmacy technician positions. The SCC job bank has great potential for helping students and area employers!
Program Redesign
Summer brought the pharmacy technician program redesign to the board for approval. She stated that the previous plan was brought over from Riverland and was implemented. After working with the program, it was decided that changes needed to be made to improve the quality and overall flow of the program. Input was received by students, internship sites, advisory board members, faculty and staff of the college.
Changes are not being made to the total number of credits for the program (60 credits) or to the general education classes that are required for the program. Amanda brought concerns over the courses required for the general education. Many pharmacists would like their technicians to have a greater understanding of anatomy, physiology, medical terminology and pharmacology so that they are better able to empathize with patients they encounter. Summer stated that the program will be looking at the general education courses required for the program in the future to make sure they are meeting the goals of ASHP and the program. W.C. stated that for the A.A.S. degree students are required to take 18 credits of general education from 3 of 10 MnTC goal areas. It was also brought to the attention to the board by Anne that many of these general education credits were chosen because they fulfill goals required by ASHP accreditation.
Summer explained the changes to the pharmacy technician program core courses. They will all be going through curriculum committee at the next meeting (March 2, 2012). All of the pharmacy technician courses will receive new course numbers and updated common course outlines, to better match the ASHP standard wording. The sequence of courses was also altered to give the program a better flow for students.
PHRM 1101 (Pharmacy Technician Orientation), will change to 2 courses PHRM 1110- Pharmacy Technician Orientation and PHRM 1112-Retail Pharmacy. PHRM 1110 (Pharmacy Technician Orientation) will be a 1 credit on-line course that will introduce students to the program. Students will receive a handbook and will be made aware of program requirements and policies. Immunization records will also be collected from students as well as a background check. Students will also receive an introduction to the pharmacy profession. PHRM 1112 (Retail Pharmacy) will be a 2 credit class with 1 credit of lecture and 1 credit of lab. The students will receive on-line lecture every week and will also be participating in 2 hours of lab each week. This will allow the students to work through more hands-on scenarios as well as to make use of the retail pharmacy lab.
PHRM 1102 (Pharmacy Law and Ethics- 2 credits) will change to PHRM 1111 Pharmacy Law and Ethics- 1 credit. This course will remain an on-line course. Material will be pared down to material relevant to pharmacy technicians.
PHRM 1103 (Pharmacy Math- 3 credits) will change to PHRM 1113 Pharmacy Math- 4 credits. This course will consist of 3 credits of lecture and 1 credit of lab. Students will be in the pharmacy lab for 2 hours each week to apply their math skills to pharmacy scenarios. This decision was made due to several factors- the PTCE is heavy on math, employers/preceptors are noticing a lack of math skills in students, and 3 credits isn’t enough time to teach technicians what they need to know for pharmacy math. The prerequisite of CHEM 108 will remain on the course to ensure the entrance level of math skills in the students. The point was made that a large number of students in the pharmacy technician program need remedial course work and thus may have to move math back a semester. We are anticipating this need and will evaluate the situation every year to determine if additional sections of pharmacy math are needed.
PHRM 1104 (Pharmacology- 4 credits) will change to PHRM 2114 Pharmacology- 4 credits. This course is currently an on-line course and will change to a hybrid.
PHRM 2106 (Aseptic Technique- 3 credits) and PHRM 2107 (Introduction to Institutional Pharmacy- 1 credit) will be combined to form PHRM 2116 Institutional Pharmacy- 4 credits. This course will be 2 credits of lecture and 2 credits of lab. Students will receive background information during the on-line lecture and then will work in the pharmacy lab applying the concepts. We will also be incorporating the use of our new Pyxis machine into this course.
PHRM 2109 (Non-Sterile Compounding- 3 credits) will change to PHRM 2115 Non-Sterile Compounding- 2 credits. This course was decreased in credits due to the knowledge in this area that is needed by the pharmacy technician. All new formulations will also be integrated into the course.
PHRM 1105 (Retail Internship-4 credits) and PHRM 2108 (Hospital [Inpatient] Pharmacy Internship- 4 credits) will be combined to form PHRM 2117 Pharmacy Technician Internship- 8 credits. These courses have been combined and placed at the end of the program plan. Students will be able to go out to their internships better prepared for the experience. It was noted that in most programs, the internship is at the end, not the middle of the program. In most cases students will also be graduating directly after their internship, making them more available for possible job placement at a previous internship site. Due to the anticipated numbers of students, it is quite probable that one-half of the class will have to begin with their retail internship and the other half with their hospital internship. After the semester is half over, the students will switch to the other internship experience. This will be determined once the numbers become clearer. The PTCE (Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam) will also be attached to this course. This course requires concurrent enrollment with PHRM 2118.