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Efrain Alonzo

Professor Sarah Shepard

PHM-110-900

June 19 2017

Ethics Within the Pharmacy

Working in a pharmacy means that you will meet many people with different cultures

than that of yours. As a pharmacist technician you must always be polite and professional when

talking with customers. It is important that you know how to manage certain situation you may

find yourself in. You must also know what you can and can't do in regards to medication and

advising the customers. Most importantly you must protect the privacy of customers.

Working at a pharmacy will make you encounter many people. Some have different

backgrounds than that of yours. This includes culture, religion, gender, and ethnic differences.

Why must we consider these when working at a pharmacy.

Culture can affect why certain people may differently when receiving certain medication.

A good example as to why some may act differently was given in Pharmacy Practice for

Technicians "in some Asian countries, mental illness is considered a dishonor for the family"

(Ballington and Anderson 708). So it is important that you know when to be respectful and to

considerate be culturally sensitive.

Religion also plays a part as to when people take their medication many religions. Some

have certain times in the year in which they fast or do not eat for a certain amount of time within
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the day. So they must talk to the pharmacist to make sure that they can go without it for that for

very long since some medication can be life threatening if not taken correctly.

Other times the technician may encounter times in which the costumers or patients would

prefer to speak with someone of the same gender. Even if you do know the answer to their

question it is better to accommodate the customer. This mainly happens when they need advice

on certain gender specific medication and patient would feel as though someone of the same

gender would know more about it.

Ethics play a part on how patients are towards the pharmacist technician or pharmacist.

Some may come from other parts of the world and their English might not be the best so you

must try and do your best to understand you also have to speak slow enough so they can

comprehend what you tell them. Other's might use slang and so you have to try and be patient

with them and remain calm.

As a pharmacist technician, you will face situations in which you must always stay calm. There

are times when the customers might get angry caused by insurance not being accepted, expensive

medication, card declined or being out of stock of some medication. You must be professional

and instead of getting angry and arguing with them you must try and find a solution. Whether it

be calling the insurance company to see if they can help solve the problem or just explaining

why the medication is as expensive as it is. You can also try and arrange for them to get the

medication at another pharmacy that has it in stock or if there isn't one with it see if the

pharmacist can find a substitute for the medication until the medication is available. In order to

be effective in these situation Pharmacy Practice for Technicians tells us to use these simple

procedures "LEAD" (Ballington and Anderson 714) which stands for listen, explain,

acknowledge, and discuss. It tells us that "Studies have demonstrated a 20% increase in
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employee productivity when using similar protocols to handle angry or unsatisfied customers."

(Ballington and Anderson 708).

Lastly and the most important requirement is that you must keep the customers

information private. All medical professional must abide by the regulations of HIPAA or Health

Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It protects information of a patient but allows it to

be accessible to medical personnel so they can assist the needs of the patients. This also protects

the patients information from being given out to businesses.(Secretary & (OCR) 2013)

When at a pharmacy you are not allowed to give out information to someone family

member unless they are on the list that the patient has given access to obtain their information.

When it comes to minors you need the legal permission of a parent in order to give information.

According to Pharmacy Practice for Technicians "in some states, adolescents at the age of 16

can receive mental health and/or reproductive counsel and pharmaceuticals" (Ballington and

Anderson 716) in these states they can keep that information private without their guardian

knowledge. So it is important that you know your states regulations for the privacy of the

customers.

When giving out prescription medication technicians and pharmacist must make sure that

the person receiving the medication is the correct person they must ask for personal information

without disclosing any of it. They can ask for name, date of birth, phone number, and address.

Pharmacies must keep computers facing away from customers and far away enough so they

cannot peek over in order to maintain privacy. They must also verify that a prescription is real.

They must make crucial decisions if a patient looks to be having a problem with the medication

you can offer them to speak with the pharmacist.

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Being a Pharmacy technician isn't as easy as it looks there are many procedures that you

must follow to be successful. Making sure that the customers have a good experience is also a

big part of being a pharmacy technician since they will be more than likely to come back if they

have a good experience.

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Works Cited

Ballington, Don A., and Robert J. Anderson. Pharmacy practice for technicians. 6th ed. St. Paul,

MN: Paradigm Publishing, 2017. Print.

Secretary, HHS Office of the, and Office For Civil Rights (OCR). "Summary of the HIPAA

Privacy Rule." HHS.gov. US Department of Health and Human Services, 26 July 2013.

Web. 18 June 2017.