THE PHARMACY

SUPPORT WORKFORCE

PROGRAM Strengthening the Pharmacy Workforce through

the Professionalization of Pharmacy Assistants

LEONILA M. OCAMPO, RPH, MS

Immediate Past President, Philippine Pharmacists Association

President, Asia Pacific Institute for Medication Management Inc.

Chair, Expert Panel for the Pharmacy Sector in TESDA

2015 PPhA National Convention

SMX Bacolod Negros Occidental

Global Perspective on Pharmacy Workforce

Global Workforce Distribution by

Sector

55% Community

18% Hospitals

10% Industry

5 % Research & Academe

5% Regulation

Others

Local Workforce Distribution by

Sector

77% Community

15% Hospitals

7% Industry

0.5% Research & Academe

Others

Global Distribution of Pharmacists and Pharmacy

Support Workforce

Training/Seminars taken

by Pharmacy Assistants

Competency Area Percentage of Participants that

have undergone training

Housekeeping 26% (105)

Supply chain and inventory

control

24% (96)

Good storage practice 22.5% (90)

Product knowledge 39% (157)

Health disease 17% (70)

Marketing and merchandising 18% (73)

Aninon, Robles, Ocampo, Gloria, 2015. A Cross-sectional Study on Pharmacy

Support Workforce (on going study)

Competency Area Percentage of Participants

that have undergone training

Dispensing practice 38% (155)

Good manufacturing practice 9.5% (38)

Good laboratory practice 8.02% (32)

Adverse drug reaction reporting 6.5% (26)

Medicine information provision 25.8% (103)

Aninon, Robles, Ocampo, Gloria, 2015. A Cross-sectional Study on Pharmacy

Support Workforce (on going study)

Training/Seminars taken

by Pharmacy Assistants

Current situation is not consistent to the

pre-requisites of quality pharmacy services..

A competent and capable practitioner workforce is an

essential pre-requisite for all health care professions.

To be able to provide quality pharmacy services is

dependent on the foundation of competence

-Global Competency Framework (FIP, 2012)

Other

HPs

Support

Workforc

e

Key players in ensuring the quality of

medicines

TESDA and PPhA Partnership

. In view of the need to

strengthen the program of

Pharmacy Services

National Certificate (NC)

II established last 2008,

this was revised and

justified to be elevated to

NC III in 2014.

Contract signing of PPhA President Leonila

Ocampo (during her term) and Division Chief Mr.

Zoilo Galang (Chief TESD Specialist) of TESDA

last April 2014.

TESDA Pharmacy Services NC III

The Training Regulations

(TR) serves as basis for the:

- Competency assessment

and certification;

- Registration and delivery of

training programs; and

- Development of curriculum

and assessment instruments.

Framework : GPP and PQF

1. The pharmacist’s primary concern in all settings is the

welfare of patient 2. the core of pharmacy activities is to help patients

make the best use of medicines 3. an integral part of the pharmacist’s contribution is the

promotion of rational and economic prescribing, as well as dispensing

4. there is multidisciplinary collaboration among healthcare professionals for successfully improving patient safety

PHARMACY SERVICES

NATIONAL CERTIFICATE III HEALTH, SOCIAL, AND OTHER COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES SECTOR

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

(TESDA)

Training Assessment TESDA-trained

Pharmacy Assistant

Lead small teams

Lead Workplace

Communication

Develop and Practice

Negotiation Skills

Solve Problems Related to

Work Activities

Use Relevant Technologies

Use Mathematical Concepts and

Techniques

BASIC

COMPETENCIES

(Pharmacy Services NC III 2015)

COMMON COMPETENCIES Maintain an effective relationship with clients/customers

Update industry knowledge and practice through continuing professional development

Perform workplace security and safety practices

Perform computer operations

Use pharmaceutical calculation techniques and terminologies

(Pharmacy Services NC III 2015)

CORE SKILLS

Housekeeping Handle the

Supply Inventory control

Merchandising and display

Good Laboratory

Practice

Dispensing Activities

Health Promotion, Education, Vigilance

Product Knowledge

Good Manufacturing

(Pharmacy Services NC III 2015)

Training Regulation Summary

Unit of Competency Elements Performance

Criteria

• Basic

Competencies 6 19 68

• Common

Competencies 5 17 57

• Core

Competencies 9 27 101

Total 20 63 226

Assessment Process

Once you are qualified for

assessment, you will

undergo an examination:

• 2 hour practical exam

• 50 items written exam

If Candidate passes, then

he/she gets a certification.

(Sample Certificate only)

Current status of TR

Submitted to the Executive Board for promulgation expected within the year 2015

“Included in the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) aimed at filling up INDUSTRIES and sectors for continuous supply of highly skilled and educated middle level work force”.

– Executive Director Marissa Legaspi

(Planning Office)

Hence, pharmacy sector

became priority for

scholarship and funding by

TESDA!

2014 General Appropriations Act mandates that technical vocational

programs/courses offered in the TWSP shall focus only on sectors and

industries that are considered KEY EMPLOYMENT GENERATOR

(KEG).

FDA Circular 2014-025

Policy Framework

ITEM #3: CREDENTIALS OF THE PHARMACIST AND PHARMACY

ASSISTANT

So far, what we have achieved?

2015 Pharmacy Support Workforce Summit

Started February 2015

16 out of 36 runs have been been completed

Major Islands Number of PA

attended

Luzon 984

Visayas 519

Mindanao 324

Total 1827

The pharmacist has lost his

professional standing primarily

because the patient cannot visualize

him as a tradesman and a

professional simultaneously.

The Dichter Report, 1973

In the Philippines, Pharmacists are viewed as tradesmen

Why?

Because of how most of the pharmacy front liners

behave and service their clients; the dichotomy (as a

business and as a health center) in the practice of the

Pharmacy profession is not well understood.

Reason why the NEED for…

TRAINING OF THE PHARMACY

SUPPORT WORK FORCE

while

Re-enforcing Our Pharmacists To Stand on

Their Ground as Not Only Businessmen But

Also as Clinicians/Health Professionals

You and I must work to… Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and

remove yourself from the unchangeable. . .

-Denis Waitley

He who rejects changes is the architect of decay. The

only human institution who rejects progress is the

cemetery

-Harold Wilson

HEALTH CARE

DELIVERY

SYSTEM –use

of

pharmaceutical

products

Filipino Pharmacist

Yolanda R. Robles, PhD

2015 PPhA National Convention

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