Enterprising tech pursues many paths

In April 2020, aware of the staffing challenges many colleagues were facing due to the pandemic, Edmonton pharmacy technician Melissa Olson decided to help out. The result was her own pharmacy relief service, which she aptly registered as “Eat. Sleep. Pharmacy. Repeat.” At the time, she explains, she was working in a specialty pharmacy that didn’t have patient foot traffic and where she was isolated from her colleagues. “So, I felt I was safe to go and help other pharmacies.” She worked evenings and weekends in relief, spending a few days at one pharmacy and then a few days self-assessing to ensure she remained COVID-free. Read: Tech forges link between clinical and technology Olson had never even heard of a pharmacy technician as a career path until a cousin from the U.S. suggested that it was an emerging field of practice. At that point, she had abandoned studies in psychology and had just applied for nursing when she switched gears to pharmacy technician/assistant, graduating from Thompson Career College in 2002. Bridging courses through Selkirk College eventually followed as she pursued regulation, all while navigating life as a single parent to two young sons. With the easing of the pandemic and more staff returning to work, Olson’s relief business is mostly on the back burner for now, but she adds that “in a pinch, I would go and help my pharmacy professionals because I know that a lot left the profession because the stress was so great and I was really fortunate not to have been exposed to that where I was working.” In the meantime, Olson has taken on new challenges. Last fall, she was nominated to the board of directors of the Pharmacy Technician Society of Alberta (PTSA) as advocacy director. While she admits that her transition into this role has been “very bumpy,” she says she has “recently gained some newfound knowledge and some new confidence in the direction I can go.” She plans to collaborate with technicians in Alberta and across Canada “to bring awareness to our role—how we can benefit our pharmacists and our patients and hopefully expand our scope.” Alberta is one of the few provinces that has not authorized pharmacy technicians to perform injections, a frustrating setback for many. Olson also wants to advocate for technicians to perform point-of-care testing that doesn’t involve nasal swabs, as well as for the ability to handle and destroy narcotics and controlled substances. “I think that is something we could take off pharmacists’ plates because we really need them on the clinical side.” Meanwhile, she is furthering her own education as she works toward a professional certification in project management. Her current manager, who recommends the certification to some of his pharmacists, thought Olson would be an ideal candidate as well. “I jumped on it,” she says. “While it’s an opportunity to build on the skills that I often use, such as communication, documentation, organization and leadership, it also helps develop or expand on the four pillars of business acumen that technicians like me were not previously exposed to. I feel that pursuing this certification is helping me build confidence and align my goals and my company’s goals and objectives as well.” She foresees other potential benefits down the road: “I think it would be preparing me if, by chance, technicians were allowed to become licensees, or I wanted to start a new program that could benefit people in the community that we serve.” The enterprising Olson has set her sights on several areas in which she could support her profession and the patients she serves. She cites teaching, writing, “maybe doing some sort of community work, maybe furthering my education, addiction counsellor perhaps—I work a lot in that field, so I’ve become pretty attached to it.”

Enterprising tech pursues many paths

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