Pharmacists' perceptions of pharmacy technician occupational values

Wesley Sparkmon; Marie Barnard; Meagen Rosenthal; Shane Desselle; Jordan Marie Ballou; Kristin L Cullen-Lester; Erin R Holmes

doi:10.1016/j.rcsop.2023.100358

Pharmacists' perceptions of pharmacy technician occupational values

Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm. 2023 Nov 4:12:100358. doi: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2023.100358. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Wesley Sparkmon¹, Marie Barnard², Meagen Rosenthal², Shane Desselle³, Jordan Marie Ballou⁴, Kristin L Cullen-Lester⁵, Erin R Holmes²

Affiliations

¹ Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, United States.
² University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, PO Box 1848 University, MS 38677, United States.
³ Touro University California College of Pharmacy, 1310 Club Dr Vallejo, CA 94592, United States.
⁴ University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy, 715 Sumter St Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
⁵ University of Mississippi School of Business Administration, PO Box 1848 University, MS 38677, United States.

Abstract

Background: Pharmacy technician scope of practice has expanded in recent years to attempt to alleviate the responsibility burden placed on pharmacists in some states. However, little research has examined the ways in which pharmacists attempt to persuade technicians to take on additional roles. Management literature has identified the importance of understanding employee values in crafting persuasive role expansion messaging. Objectives: Identify the occupational values which pharmacists believe are the most important to pharmacy technicians when attempting to craft messages aimed at increasing technician involvement in advanced roles.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with pharmacists across multiple practice settings to identify how important they believe nine selected occupational values are to pharmacy technicians. Average scores for each of the nine values were calculated and examined to identify potential differences between the two overarching types of occupational values: intrinsic and extrinsic.

Results: Pharmacists indicated that they believed that technicians are more extrinsically motivated than intrinsically motivated. Pharmacists believed that technicians had higher levels of extrinsic occupational values as opposed to intrinsic occupational values (3.920 vs. 3.113). The most important values to technicians as perceived by pharmacists were the income of the job and the hours of the jobs (average score of 4.85 and 4.75, respectively). The chance to be helpful to others and society was the only intrinsic value with an average score >3.5. Additionally, pharmacists indicated that technicians were not properly compensated for their work, which furthered illustrated the perceived importance of extrinsic motivators. Finally, when it came to crafting messaging around role expansion, pharmacists believed it was important to tailor their messaging to the technician they were speaking to.

Conclusion: Pharmacists looking to craft role expansion messaging to their technicians are more likely to utilize extrinsic occupational values as motivators instead of using intrinsic values.