Systemization and evaluation of the impact of a pharmacy technician career ladder in a multi-hospital system

Purpose: Career ladders have been formally designed to assist in the motivation of pharmacy technician employees to undertake more of an active approach in career progression and participate in the advancement of innovative pharmacy leadership practices. The ability to identify organizational benefits and perceptions of a career ladder for technicians will support the imperatives set forth at the 2017 Pharmacy Technician Stakeholder Consensus Conference and in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2018 Pharmacy Forecast. Methods: A retrospective multi-center study was performed to evaluate organizational and pharmacy technician-oriented outcomes. The timeframe encompasses a pre-intervention period from January 2013 through December 2015 and a post-intervention period from January 2017 through December 2019. The main intervention was the implementation of a systemized pharmacy technician career ladder. The primary endpoint was to assess the perceptions of pharmacy technicians toward career advancement through a theory of reasoned action survey. Secondary endpoints included new hire pharmacy technician one-year and two-year promotion and turnover rates. Results: Survey assessment revealed significance within one domain, leadership and career advancement, indicated by Pharmacy Technician IIs and IIIs (P=0.006). The promotion rate of new hire employees in the post-intervention period was comparatively reduced in a one-year timeframe but maintained similar to historic information in a two-year timeframe. The turnover rate maintained relatively constant despite a systemized career ladder. Conclusion: Pharmacy technicians demonstrate inherent attributes to pursue employment with career advancement and leadership opportunities. An employee’s organizational commitment is not linearly associated with the institution of a career ladder or incentivized benefits.