02. TESDA Pharmacy Services NC III: Pharmacy Assistant

• The ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework

  
• Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF)

  
• Pharmacy Staff


  • “Pharmacy assistants refer to persons who assist the pharmacists in different aspects of pharmacy operations based on established standard operating procedures and processes, with a minimum degree of independence or decision-making and may have supervised interaction with patients”
• Pharmacy Staff

  
• Pharmacy Staff


  found in Community pharmacies • Hospital pharmacies • Institutional pharmacies • RONPDs (Retail Outlets for Non-Prescription Drugs)
• RONPDs (Retail Outlets for Non-Prescription Drugs)


  Public health facilities that stores medicines (Barangay Health Units and Rural Health Units) and Private health facilities and outlets (Supermarkets and convenience stores)
• Global Perspective on Pharmacy Workforce


  55% of pharmacists worked in community pharmacies, • 18% in hospitals, • 10% in industry, • 5% in research and academia, • 5% in regulation, • Others
• National Perspective on Pharmacy Workforce

  • 77% in community • 15% in hospitals • 7% in industry • 0.5% research and academe • Others
• Issues and concerns on utilization of the pharmacy workforce

  By 2030, there will be a global shortage of about 18 million skilled health care workers, including pharmacists
• Issues and concerns on utilization of the pharmacy workforce In the Philippines

  Low remuneration rates • Heavy workload • Poor stature of the profession in the Philippines
• Quality of work-life of Filipino Pharmacists

  academe: 5.82%, community: 44.52%, government: 3.42%, hospital: 25.34%, pharmaceutical industry: 12.67%, regulatory: 8.22%
• Quality of work-life of Filipino Pharmacists

  Majority of the respondents felt ‘somewhat stressful’ on: • understaffed pharmacists • understaffed pharmacy assistants • Doing excessive paperwork or documentation (e.g., patient records) • too much workload that everything cannot be done well • Disagreement with other health care professionals in the treatment of patients, ensuring quality of drug products, or provision of drug information
• Quality of work-life of Filipino Pharmacists

  Majority of the respondents felt ‘somewhat stressful’ on: • Dealing with difficult clients or patients • Possessing inadequate information regarding a patient’s medical condition • Feeling ultimately responsible for patient outcomes from drug therapy, drug products, or drug information provided • Fearing that he/she will make a mistake in treating a patient, in ensuring quality of drug products, or in providing drug information
• Proportion of pharmacy assistants who underwent training on the following competencies in the philippines

  Product Knowledge: 33.4%, Housekeeping: 22.1%, Good Storage Practices: 21.6%, Drug Information Provision: 21.4%, Supply Chain and Inventory: 17.9%, Health Disease: 16.9%, Marketing and Merchandising: 15.1%, Good Manufacturing Practices: 10.1%, Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting: 6.9%, Laboratory Techniques: 6.5%
• Current Status of Pharmacy Staff in the Philippines

  There is lack of proper training of pharmacy assistants (PAs) prior to deployment in community pharmacies.
• Current Status of Pharmacy Staff in the Philippines


  • Although there had been an existing training regulation (Pharmacy Services NC II), only few PAs took the program due to various reasons.
• Current Status of Pharmacy Staff in the Philippines


  • Revision of the Training Regulation to Pharmacy Services NC III was necessary to respond to the needs of the industry and patients.
• TR as basis for the:

  competency assessment and certification, registration and delivery of training programs, and development of curriculum and assessment instruments