What Does a Pharmacy Technician Do?

I’ve been writing articles on why and the way to turn out to be a pharmacy technician, however some latest suggestions has made me notice I not noted the plain. What’s it that pharmacy technicians do in a pharmacy? Most individuals determine they assist the pharmacist enter prescriptions and depend drugs. That is true for an outpatient pharmacy, additionally referred to as a retail pharmacy, however there are a lot of roles for pharmacy technicians in healthcare. The remainder of this text will checklist various kinds of pharmacy settings and the roles that pharmacy technicians have in these settings.

Group/Retail Pharmacy:

I’ve labored retail, and I desire different settings; nonetheless, it’s the place a big proportion of gondola farmac  jobs are discovered. What a pharmacy technician can do is decided by the state they work through state legal guidelines and guidelines. Typically, technicians can not present scientific data to sufferers or be the ultimate examine for prescriptions. In some states, technicians are allowed to offer data on over-the-counter (OTC) medicine (ie, medicines that don’t require a prescription, similar to, acetaminophen and ibuprofen). Pharmacy technician duties embody, however should not restricted to:

• Gathering affected person data (insurance coverage and private data as wanted)
• Getting into and processing prescriptions within the pc system
• Filling and promoting prescriptions
• Requesting refills from physician places of work for sufferers
• Compounding medicines that aren’t commercially out there
• Ordering medicines
• Restocking cabinets
• Answering the cellphone
• Working with insurance coverage corporations on approving fee for sure medicines
• Sustaining the money register and conducting accounting capabilities

Hospital Pharmacy:

There are lots of completely different roles for pharmacy technicians in a hospital pharmacy. I do know such a pharmacy finest since that is the place most of my work has been. The most typical are technicians who work within the central pharmacy. As well as we’ve got decentralized techs, sterile compounding techs, billing techs, OR techs, narcotic techs, database techs, automation techs, crew lead techs, and purchaser techs. These technicians as a complete carry out the next duties, however not restricted to:

• Filling new orders, this consists of a wide range of medicines from oral medicines to specifically ready sterile compound medicines (together with chemotherapy meds)
• Answering the cellphone
• Tubing medicines (if the pharmacy has a pneumatic tube station)
• Getting ready medicines for supply
• Delivering medicines
• Aiding ground pharmacists with medicine histories
• Aiding ground pharmacists with IV drip checks
• Dealing with lacking dose calls
• Billing medicines the place nurse charting doesn’t invoice
• Sustaining the pharmacy database
• Restocking working rooms and anesthesia trays with acceptable medicine
• Meting out and monitoring all managed substances all through the hospital
• Sustaining automation gear [automated dispensing cabinets that store medication on nursing units, automatic fill systems (typically called Robot-Rx)]
• Buying of all medicine and provides wanted within the pharmacy
• Main and managing the technician workforce, together with maintenance of schedules

Lengthy-Time period Care Pharmacy:

I’ve labored at a few long-term care pharmacies, and I believe it’s a good spot to be a technician. They sometimes worker a number of techs as a result of the work load lends itself to a number of technician duties. These pharmacies present the medicine wants for nursing properties, assisted dwelling services, and psychiatric services. The everyday pharmacy is situated in a warehouse. It doesn’t have an open pharmacy for individuals to come back to; they obtain orders by fax and ship all medicines through couriers or drivers to services. The oral medicine is crammed in blister packs (playing cards of 30 tabs which are used to offer a 1 month provide of medicine), or another mechanism that present the power with an prolonged quantity of medicine doses that may be safely and cleanly saved till doses are due. Pharmacy technician duties embody, however should not restricted to:

• Filling new and refill orders (completely different from hospital due to the variety of doses offered)
• Processing new order and refills coming by way of the fax machine
• Order entry of prescriptions and printing of labels for fill techs
• Sterile compounding of medicines (though there aren’t as many sterile compounded medicines as a hospital, there are nonetheless sufficient that almost all long-term care pharmacies have a number of techs specialise in sterile compounding
• Billing medicines to properties
• Managed substance shelling out and documentation
• Ordering medicines and provides
• Restocking medicines which are returned which are nonetheless appropriate for reuse.

Residence Infusion Pharmacy:

These pharmacies primarily look after sufferers that require some type of IV or different non oral medicine, and need to obtain the remedy at dwelling (therefore the identify home-infusion). I’ve additionally labored in a home-infusion pharmacy. As a tech I had a number of expertise in sterile compounding, and located my self in any place that wanted a IV room tech. Pharmacy technician duties embody, however should not restricted to:

• Compounding sterile preparations within the clear room
• Getting ready provides related to sterile medicine administration for supply
• Billing medicines delivered to sufferers dwelling
• Coordinating deliveries of medicines with sufferers
• Getting into orders within the pharmacy order entry system

Nuclear Pharmacy:

No, I’ve not labored in a nuclear pharmacy (I’m positive you had been staring to assume I acquired round fairly a bit, however I’ve been in pharmacy for about 17 years). I’ve some pals who work in a nuclear pharmacy. The hours are attention-grabbing; they often are available at about three AM and work till about midday. These kind of pharmacies make radioactive compounds and so they should be made in a method that when they’re delivered to the hospital or clinic administering them, that the dose has degraded to a certain amount. With out going into an excessive amount of element, these medicines have brief half-lives. In order that they should time the compounding of the product with the time it takes to ship the medicine and the time the affected person is to obtain the dose. The job pays properly, however as you possibly can think about, there should not a ton of those positions out there. Pharmacy technician duties embody, however should not restricted to:

• Getting ready radioactive merchandise
• Cleansing and making ready sterile compounding areas
• Getting into orders into the pharmacy system
• Coordinating dose due instances with deliveries and preparation
• Billing merchandise to hospital or clinic

Well being Plans/HMO Pharmacy Group:

I saved this one for final as a result of it’s a lot completely different. Most healthcare plans have a pharmacy division. They handle the pharmacy good thing about the well being plan. I’ve labored with my corporations well being plan and have spent a while with the pharmacy division. Pharmacy technician duties embody, however should not restricted to:

• Answering cellphone calls and offering assist for sufferers on the pharmacy profit
• Reviewing prior authorization requests
• Offering assist to physicians and drug corporations for data requests
• Supporting the pharmacists within the division with database and tasks as wanted

As you possibly can see, pharmacy technician roles could be very numerous. The most effective recommendation I can provide you is to determine what setting you’d most wish to work in and acquire some experiential hours in that setting. I’ve discovered that the kind of pharmacy you prepare in is often the kind of pharmacy you find yourself working in.