Evaluation of the impact of unit-based pharmacy technicians in a tertiary academic medical center

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a unit-based pharmacy technician service on the quality of patient care provided within a tertiary academic medical center, defined by its effect on clinical pharmacist efficacy, the discharge process, and operational efficiency. Methods: A quasi-experimental, single-center pilot study was conducted to evaluate the integration of two unit-based pharmacy technicians on four acute care cardiology and neurology floors. Their specific primary functions included completing medication histories, performing insurance coverage verification, screening for high-cost medications and prior authorizations, and facilitating utilization of the bedside medication delivery program. The primary endpoint was a composite of clinical pharmacist efficacy, defined as the documented number of advanced clinical interventions (aside from pharmacy consult-related interventions), prior authorizations, discharge counseling, and discharge process support. Secondary endpoints included various operational and outcomes metrics, such as medication re-dispense rates, medication message rates, length of stay, length of stay index, 30-day readmission rates, and patient satisfaction scores. Patients were included only with a discharge disposition to home in the pre-intervention period from October 2020 to January 2021 and the post-intervention period from October 2021 to January 2022. Results: Of the 2076 patients who met inclusion criteria in the post-intervention period, approximately 35.5% had an intervention performed by a unit-based pharmacy technician during hospitalization. The composite rate of clinical pharmacist interventions per number of patients discharged significantly increased from 31% in the pre-intervention period to 38% in the post-intervention period (95% CI, -12.86 to -2.03, p<0.01). There was also a significant increase in the rate of prior authorizations completed from 2% to 7% (95% CI, -6.65 to -2.98, p