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Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility

Background: Pharmacy technicians are legally allowed to administer immunizations in specific U.S. states, provided they meet certain criteria, including the completion of an accredited immunization training course. Immunizing pharmacy technicians were incorporated into an Indian Health Services fede...

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Autores principales: McKeirnan, Kimberly, Sarchet, Gregory
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6958447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31717930
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy7040152
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author McKeirnan, Kimberly
Sarchet, Gregory
author_facet McKeirnan, Kimberly
Sarchet, Gregory
author_sort McKeirnan, Kimberly
collection PubMed
description Background: Pharmacy technicians are legally allowed to administer immunizations in specific U.S. states, provided they meet certain criteria, including the completion of an accredited immunization training course. Immunizing pharmacy technicians were incorporated into an Indian Health Services federal facility, Whiteriver Service Unit (WRSU), in 2018. The objective of this research was to gather information about implementing immunizing pharmacy technicians in a federal facility serving a large rural and medically underserved population. Methods: WRSU launched a Pharmacy Technician Immunization Program in June 2018 after seven federally employed pharmacy technicians participated in the Washington State University accredited technician immunization training. The types of vaccinations administered, and the ages of patients immunized by pharmacy technicians, were tracked from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Results: Seven immunization-trained pharmacy technicians administered 4394 injections for a total of 4852 vaccinations in one year. Vaccinations were administered to patients ranging in age from 2 months old to 85 years old and included protection against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and B, H. influenza, human papillomavirus, seasonal influenza, meningococcal, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, pneumonia, and rotavirus. Conclusion: In one year, seven pharmacy technicians administered more than 4800 vaccinations to underserved patients. Pharmacy technicians trained and certified to administer immunizations increase access to vaccination care and have the potential to drastically increase the number of immunizations given and reduce the number of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.
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spelling pubmed-69584472020-01-23 Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility McKeirnan, Kimberly Sarchet, Gregory Pharmacy (Basel) Communication Background: Pharmacy technicians are legally allowed to administer immunizations in specific U.S. states, provided they meet certain criteria, including the completion of an accredited immunization training course. Immunizing pharmacy technicians were incorporated into an Indian Health Services federal facility, Whiteriver Service Unit (WRSU), in 2018. The objective of this research was to gather information about implementing immunizing pharmacy technicians in a federal facility serving a large rural and medically underserved population. Methods: WRSU launched a Pharmacy Technician Immunization Program in June 2018 after seven federally employed pharmacy technicians participated in the Washington State University accredited technician immunization training. The types of vaccinations administered, and the ages of patients immunized by pharmacy technicians, were tracked from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Results: Seven immunization-trained pharmacy technicians administered 4394 injections for a total of 4852 vaccinations in one year. Vaccinations were administered to patients ranging in age from 2 months old to 85 years old and included protection against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and B, H. influenza, human papillomavirus, seasonal influenza, meningococcal, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, pneumonia, and rotavirus. Conclusion: In one year, seven pharmacy technicians administered more than 4800 vaccinations to underserved patients. Pharmacy technicians trained and certified to administer immunizations increase access to vaccination care and have the potential to drastically increase the number of immunizations given and reduce the number of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. MDPI 2019-11-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6958447/ /pubmed/31717930 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy7040152 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
McKeirnan, Kimberly
Sarchet, Gregory
Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility
title Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility
title_full Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility
title_fullStr Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility
title_full_unstemmed Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility
title_short Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility
title_sort implementing immunizing pharmacy technicians in a federal healthcare facility
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6958447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31717930
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy7040152
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