“I was very impressed with the few pages of material you sent me. As I was reading it, it reminded me of when I qualified as a pharmacy technician myself and how daunting it was.
You described how we all felt and assured us that it’s normal. The pressure we put on ourselves trying to remember everything and sometimes being afraid to ask the same question you only asked an hour ago because you’ve forgotten, and you don’t want the pharmacist to think you’re not that good.
Reassuring techs that they have the knowledge. Knowledge is just like a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the pieces. It’s just fitting it all together. Trust yourself!”
Melaine also provided practical suggestions based on her own experience in pharmacy, including marking open boxes of medicines appropriately and encouraging technicians to gather their own items during the dispensing process to help identify potential picking or dispensing errors before final checking.
She continued:
“Other than that, I think your survival guide is very well thought out and you’ve covered everything that a new technician would find invaluable.
I can see you’ve put a lot of work into it. You should be very proud of yourself.
But I think you have covered everything from start to finish. The best of luck with the launch. You deserve success for all your hard work.”

“Your work is super, and it’s written really well from a technician’s perspective.
I think it will be a great success. As I wasn’t reading the pages in order, I found it a little tricky to follow the flow, but that’s not a criticism at all. The content is broken down into really practical, easy-to-follow steps.”
Elaine suggested that a diagram or flow chart outlining a typical daily pharmacy workflow could be a useful addition for new technicians.
She described how her own busy pharmacy uses a daily whiteboard to delegate responsibilities between technicians and pharmacists, including:
• Who is on the prescription queue?
• Who is gathering baskets?
• Who is dealing with stock?
• Which pharmacist is dispensing?
• Which pharmacist is checking?
• Who is dealing with the phone or patient queries?
Elaine explained:
“By having a clear workflow with everyone’s names beside their tasks, everyone knows exactly what they are responsible for that day. It helps the whole team to work more efficiently and gives new technicians a really clear understanding of how a busy pharmacy operates.”
She concluded:
“I would definitely recommend this book to colleagues. I also think many pharmacists would really support something like this. Having a practical guide that technicians can refer back to would be hugely beneficial.”
Elaine also suggested the potential for developing an ongoing subscription or network alongside the core resource, providing technicians with regular practical tips, advice and relevant pharmacy updates.
She added:
“I’d be interested to know how many pharmacy technicians there are in Ireland, as there could be a really good market for this. I think many pharmacy owners would support it too.
I’m always happy to bounce ideas around, but most importantly, best of luck with it. I’m confident it will be a success.”
Elaine also highlighted the importance of protecting the intellectual property and copyright of the resources as Pharmacy Standard develops.