Taking the fear out of pharmacy assessments

I’ve been working in pharmacy long enough to remember the time when pharmacy assessments were called inspections and when practice advisors at the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) were called inspectors. The air of anxiety in the pharmacy when you knew the inspector was coming. People rushing around the pharmacy trying to ensure everything looked perfect. Anticipating what the inspector would find. I went through a few of these inspections at a few different pharmacies. The first time, I had no clue what was happening, but I definitely caught those infectious feelings of anxiety from everyone else. Did the inspector find things for the pharmacy to work on? Of course. Was the experience a bad one? Nope. I didn’t really get what the big deal was. Even with the new language of assessments and advisors, I still see and hear from people being a little fearful about the assessments and I am here to tell you that there is no need to be fearful. Read: When is a near-miss worth documenting? A little nervous is understandable, but you don’t even really need to be nervous. And here is why.... Those pharmacy technician practice advisors are pharmacy technicians just like you. I was once a hospital practice advisor at OCP and let me tell you, it was one of the best experiences I have had. I learned so much and saw so many great things. The discussions at work with other practice advisors were amazing. Everyone really was there to help improve pharmacy practice and they were so passionate about it (and I am confident that the current practice advisors are still passionate about it). It wasn’t about finding things that were wrong and punishing people. It was about education. It was about seeing best practices and sharing those with others. It was about trying to improve everyone’s practice, even if they were already doing everything right. It was about improving pharmacy practice in general. Read: Teamwork makes the dream work I would see pharmacy technicians looking at us advisors and I could see the nerves, and I just didn’t get it. It was just me! There was no need to be nervous because of me. But I got it—I wasn’t “me” in that moment. I was “OCP.” One of my favourite moments was arriving at a pharmacy to conduct the assessment and I could see a bunch of pharmacy staff standing together, nervously glancing at us and all of sudden one of the technicians got a huge smile on their face and started waving. I had taught this technician and when they saw me, they told the other staff that it was fine, there was no need to be nervous because it was just Sarah-Lynn. Exactly, it was just me. A fellow pharmacy technician who was there to learn and discuss. And I didn’t want people to be afraid of me either! Last year, I volunteered to undergo a practice assessment in community pharmacy (7 years after I had left my role as a practice advisor). Yes, you read that correctly—I volunteered. Why? Because I was curious. I wanted to see what the pharmacy technician assessments were like. I was confident in the work I do, but I always think I could be doing more, and I had questions. The assessment gave me uninterrupted, one-on-one time with a practice advisor. I could ask all the questions I had. We had great discussions and my advisor had so many amazing examples and stories to share, even when it was simply reinforcing what I was already doing in practice. I left the assessment with additional learning points for the rest of the pharmacy team and to share with my students. I left it feeling good. Feeling re-energized. So, when it’s your time for a practice assessment, it’s okay to feel a little nervous. Sometimes nerves are good—they tell us we care. But don’t focus on that. Focus on the good work you do and gather all the questions you have. Take advantage of that time you have with the advisor and go into it knowing they want to share best practices and help you continue to grow in your practice.