Inservice pharmacy technician training program.

The development and implementation of a two-month inservice training program for hospital pharmacy supportive personnel is discussed. A task-oriented approach was used to define the instructional objectives of the program. To emphasize the job-related nature of the instruction, conferences and workshops were selected as the primary teaching methods. A specific instructional plan was designed for drug conferences, giving the trainee an active role in the learning of drug names and dosage forms. On-the-job experience, comprising 30% of the training time, gradually was incorporated into the program. Staff pharmacists and supervisors assumed the teaching responsibilities. During weekly evaluation sessions with each trainee, the coodinator discussed the trainee's performance, pin-pointed deficiencies and suggested means of improvement. The benefits of the program, in terms of selection and sequence of instructional programs, student assessment and program evaluation, are discussed.