immunization training

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eagle4

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Hi,

Has anyone gone through an immunization training session? I'm a little nervous about it, so if anyone has info about the course (structure of the session, what you practice on, how many shots you have to give/receive) I'd really appreciate it!
 
eagle4 said:
Hi,

Has anyone gone through an immunization training session? I'm a little nervous about it, so if anyone has info about the course (structure of the session, what you practice on, how many shots you have to give/receive) I'd really appreciate it!
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not trying to be mean....but why you even signing up for the session? If they have something like "Open heart surgery crash course for pharmacist" then i would definitely sign up for this....but immunization? Come on, that's the RN level job, not Pharm.D!
 
rxforlife2004 said:
not trying to be mean....but why you even signing up for the session? If they have something like "Open heart surgery crash course for pharmacist" then i would definitely sign up for this....but immunization? Come on, that's the RN level job, not Pharm.D!
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absurdity...is that a real word? Broaden your horizons a little...and it's a mandatory class for a reason🙂
 
rxforlife2004 said:
not trying to be mean....but why you even signing up for the session? If they have something like "Open heart surgery crash course for pharmacist" then i would definitely sign up for this....but immunization? Come on, that's the RN level job, not Pharm.D!
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Hate to break it to you but immunizations are an integral part of our jobs now. The chains have figured out they can exploit us and make lots of money off them.

My current company will not hire anyone who is not immunization certified.
 
would you mind sharing a little bit of what is involved in the session? how long it takes? how much practice you get? just curious, thanks!
 
MountainPharmD said:
Hate to break it to you but immunizations are an integral part of our jobs now. The chains have figured out they can exploit us and make lots of money off them.

My current company will not hire anyone who is not immunization certified.
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if one ever opens up an independent, learning how to immunize can only help your cause. 🙂
 
eagle4 said:
Hi,

Has anyone gone through an immunization training session? I'm a little nervous about it, so if anyone has info about the course (structure of the session, what you practice on, how many shots you have to give/receive) I'd really appreciate it!
Click to expand...

It is not that bad. Everyone doing it is a little nervous. Once you do that first poke you realize it's nothing crazy. And the worst that happens is you bruise a classmate a little. We did 2 IM shots and 2 sq shots on classmates after practicing on an orange for a little bit. I got like 3-4 IM shots and 2 SQ shots. At worse it hurt a little more than a regular flu shot. Honestly, the worse part was sitting through all the powerpoint slides.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Thats a good point. I am sure the chains are working on it. Much better profit margin if the techs do it.
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Much better profit margin for not only the chains, but for indies also. I kid you not, I would go on a massive Flu Vaccine frenzy and grab people off the street. Make a few bucks per shot...sell some coffee while they're in the pharmacy...have them pick up some goofy junk stuff from the front end.
 
rxforlife2004 said:
not trying to be mean....but why you even signing up for the session? If they have something like "Open heart surgery crash course for pharmacist" then i would definitely sign up for this....but immunization? Come on, that's the RN level job, not Pharm.D!
Click to expand...

Physicians also provide vaccinations, are you saying that they are demeaning or denigrating themselves? Anything that will expand the pharmacist's scope of practice and allow the public to view them in a more positive light is a good thing.
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
No thanks. Not my idea of how pharamcy should be practiced. Let the techs immunize..
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I highly disagree with this statement. Pharmacists are allowed to "dispense, compound, and administer" medications that are ordered by a prescriber. If a doc writes for a flu shot, how is administering said shot any different from filling their lisinopril rx?? This is the way that pharmacy is going. In a world where we're already under-reimbursed for our additional services (otc recommendations, counseling, etc) this is a great service that we can offer to our communities with compensation. How is administering medication something that techs can/should do?

In my state, pharmacists don't even need a prescription in order to administer a flu shot. The patient comes in and shows their Medicare card, then we bill for the service and give the shot. It's profitable to us and we're a) improving the overall health of our patient population, b) earning more respect as healthcare professionals, and c) attracting new patients to our pharmacy.

Pharmacy is changing, like everything else in healthcare. You're going to need to keep up.
 
eagle4 said:
Hi,

Has anyone gone through an immunization training session? I'm a little nervous about it, so if anyone has info about the course (structure of the session, what you practice on, how many shots you have to give/receive) I'd really appreciate it!
Click to expand...


It's not bad at all...nothing to be nervous about. For the actual training session, we practiced on little sponges first to get comfortable with the idea of poking a needle in something. Once we got past that, we practiced twice on each other using saline. No big deal.

In order to get certified, we had to complete 10 shots so we held immunization clinics on campus and took turns giving the shots (discounted to students).

I've done thousands of flu shots, and only the first 3 or 4 were hard. No matter how good you are, you'll still make somebody wince every now and then, so don't let it bother you.
 
Vitamin K said:
I highly disagree with this statement. Pharmacists are allowed to "dispense, compound, and administer" medications that are ordered by a prescriber. If a doc writes for a flu shot, how is administering said shot any different from filling their lisinopril rx?? This is the way that pharmacy is going. In a world where we're already under-reimbursed for our additional services (otc recommendations, counseling, etc) this is a great service that we can offer to our communities with compensation. How is administering medication something that techs can/should do?

In my state, pharmacists don't even need a prescription in order to administer a flu shot. The patient comes in and shows their Medicare card, then we bill for the service and give the shot. It's profitable to us and we're a) improving the overall health of our patient population, b) earning more respect as healthcare professionals, and c) attracting new patients to our pharmacy.

Pharmacy is changing, like everything else in healthcare. You're going to need to keep up.
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You go right ahead and give shots. I'll use my cognitive skills to enhance pharmacy practice while you swab patients arms like an LVN.

You're going to need to keep up
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Giving injections is keeping up? :meanie: Don't worry about me keeping up.. I do enough of trend setting for the pharmacy industry to follow.
 
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better yet, I would just hire an LVN to give shots... why pay pharmacists $60 per hour to give shots... sounds like to me a bad business idea.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Trust me...once the chains figure out how to do it with cheaper help they will.

I am not against have technicians do it. Have the pharmacist consult if there are any questions or contradictions.
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Oh no...some hot shot 4th year student thinks giving shots is "keeping up" with the new pharmacy practice... it must not be done by a tech..
 
Vitamin K said:
I highly disagree with this statement. Pharmacists are allowed to "dispense, compound, and administer" medications that are ordered by a prescriber. If a doc writes for a flu shot, how is administering said shot any different from filling their lisinopril rx?? This is the way that pharmacy is going. In a world where we're already under-reimbursed for our additional services (otc recommendations, counseling, etc) this is a great service that we can offer to our communities with compensation. How is administering medication something that techs can/should do?

In my state, pharmacists don't even need a prescription in order to administer a flu shot. The patient comes in and shows their Medicare card, then we bill for the service and give the shot. It's profitable to us and we're a) improving the overall health of our patient population, b) earning more respect as healthcare professionals, and c) attracting new patients to our pharmacy.

Pharmacy is changing, like everything else in healthcare. You're going to need to keep up.
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a. okay...maybe
b. no, respect is earned...and u won't get respect much by just giving flu shots. you will earn respect if you do open heart surgery or running a cath lab, not giving flu shot. Giving flu shot is a joke....not much skills needed ( still don't know why they spend hours for sessions....)
c. not really....new patients come and go
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
Oh no...some hot shot 4th year student thinks giving shots is "keeping up" with the new pharmacy practice... it must not be done by a tech..
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I didn't insult you. I respectfully disagreed. You could do the same. Or you could continue to be combative toward everyone who feels differently than you do...
 
Vitamin K said:
I didn't insult you. I respectfully disagreed. You could do the same. Or you could continue to be combative toward everyone who feels differently than you do...
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It's an open forum. If you're gonna dish it out, grow some skin. You don't tell someone you have no idea what they do to "keep up" especially when you're just finishing up your PharmD.
 
In our state we were just given the legal "ok, go ahead" to give immunizations. For NYS this is a progressive measure to broaden the scope of practice. While it may not be open heart surgery, its merely a stepping stone in order to be able to do more things. I mean I know that this is not rocket science; You can probably train high schoolers to administer it. I don't know why we couldn't do it, however the more accessable and the more competent the a pharmacist can appear, the more positive the public can look at us and the more likely scope will broaden.
 
I for one wont mind poking a needle in people...and to that jerk who was yelling at my staff last week, well he's getting an 18 gauge needle🙂...Why not immunize...it will be good in the right setting...It'll also get me out of dispensing for awhile...
 
To the OP, the class is usually several hours of didactic stuff followed by everyone in the class giving each other shots. Most classes will require you to do/recieve a single IM and SubQ injection (easy, no worries) others may make you do intradermal, which is more difficult and a bit more painful. Sometimes you might practice on a dummy or an orange first. People are easier though. Dummies have thick skin and oranges are awkward. People are probably more like ripe pears.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Trust me...once the chains figure out how to do it with cheaper help they will.

I am not against have technicians do it. Have the pharmacist consult if there are any questions or contradictions.
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👍 If High School graduates, i.e. phlebotomists, can perform venipunctures, then I think pharm techs would be able to learn how to give immunizations.
 
Like quiksilver said, the bill allowing for immunization was passed last year. I strongly encourage every pharmacist in NYS to sign up for it.

1. Pharmacists are ideally suited for giving immunizations since we are everywhere.

2. Once certified in NYS, you do not need a repeat course (but must be up to date with CPR in order to immunize).

3. Its one of those laws that expires and set for renewal after x amount of years. If the state legislation sees that theres no point in the law, they will revoke it.

4. Like other people said, its a stepping stone to greater things.

5. and yes, it can be a profit maker and bring foot traffic into your store.

I dont see us doing it for chains though since we are too expensive and there are always our NP/PAs in our minute clinics.
 
mike36 said:
👍 If High School graduates, i.e. phlebotomists, can perform venipunctures, then I think pharm techs would be able to learn how to give immunizations.
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NYSCHP has a proposed motion to support certain pharmacy personnel towards performing phlebotomy for therapeutic drug monitoring. It definitely would make life easier in terms of TDM.
 
Praziquantel86 said:
NYSCHP has a proposed motion to support certain pharmacy personnel towards performing phlebotomy for therapeutic drug monitoring. It definitely would make life easier in terms of TDM.
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I'm interested to say how that turns out.
 
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