Comparing Pharmacist Attitudes on Pharmacy Technician Vaccination Practice

Abstract

Specific Aims: To characterize and compare pharmacists’ attitudes regarding pharmacy technician vaccine practice in rural and urban areas. Methods: Data was collected via an online survey questionnaire consisting of 18 questions. One question was used to verify demographic information of each pharmacist’s practice site to differentiate a rural and an urban setting. The questionnaire was distributed from November 2023 through February 2024 by email notification to eligible pharmacists in Arizona. Results: The questionnaire included only 18 valid responses. Of those responses, the majority practiced in urban pharmacies. 75% concurred that technician vaccination is safe. 69% of pharmacists believed in technician vaccination practice, 62.6% thought they should be able to administer all vaccines, and 87.5% agreed that technician vaccination aids in pharmacy workflow. However, 56% of the responses demonstrated a lack of confidence in technician vaccine training. Conclusions: Due to inaccuracies of completed surveys, no comparisons were possible between urban and rural respondents. Collecting quality survey data poses a challenge as response rates are low and there is potential for bias and sampling error. Responses gathered are not representative of all practicing pharmacists’ attitudes, as it was limited to community pharmacy sites. Overall, the trend was in favor of technician vaccination but that better training should be provided. These results align with previous literature available that technician vaccination is beneficial to pharmacy workflow. Further studies with a larger population size and variety of practice sites are warranted.