What a pharmacy technician does

I've been writing articles on why and how to become a pharmacy technician, but some recent comments have made me realize that I missed the obvious. What do pharmacy technicians do in a pharmacy? Most people believe they help the pharmacist enter prescriptions and count pills. This is true for an outpatient pharmacy, also called a retail pharmacy, but pharmacy technicians have many roles in healthcare. The rest of this article will list different types of pharmacy settings and the roles that pharmacy technicians have in these settings.

Community / Retail Pharmacy:

I have worked retail and prefer other environments; however, it is where a large percentage of pharmacy technician jobs are located. What a pharmacy technician can do is determined by the state in which he works through state laws and regulations. In general, technicians cannot provide clinical information to patients or be the final control of prescriptions. In some states, technicians can provide information about over-the-counter (OTC) drugs (that is, non-prescription drugs, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen). The duties of the pharmacy technician include, among others:

• Collection of patient information (insurance and personal information as needed)
• Enter and process recipes in the computer system.
• Filling and sale of recipes
• Request for refills from medical offices for patients
• Compound drugs that are not commercially available.
• Medication order
• Refueling shelves
• Answering the phone
• Work with insurance companies to approve payment for certain drugs.
• Maintain the cash register and perform accounting functions.

Hospital pharmacy:

There are many different roles for pharmacy technicians in a hospital french beauty products. I know this type of pharmacy better since this is where most of my work has been. The most common are technicians who work at the central pharmacy. Additionally, we have decentralized technicians, sterile capitalization technicians, billing technicians, operating room technicians, narcotic technicians, database technicians, automation technicians, leading equipment technicians, and buyer technicians. These technicians as a whole perform the following tasks, but are not limited to:

• Fill new orders, this includes a variety of medications, from oral medications to specially prepared sterile compound medications (including chemotherapy drugs)
• Answering the phone
• Tube medications (if the pharmacy has a pneumatic tube station)
• Preparation of medications for delivery.
• Delivery of medications.
• Assist floor pharmacists with medication histories.
• Assist floor pharmacists with IV drip checks
• Handling missed dose calls
• Billing of medications in cases where the charts of the nurses do not bill
• Maintenance of the pharmacy database.
• Replacement of operating rooms and anesthesia trays with the appropriate medication.
• Dispense and track all controlled substances throughout the hospital.
• Maintenance of automation equipment [automated dispensing cabinets storing medications in nursing units, automatic filling systems (generally called Robot-Rx)]
• Purchase of all necessary medications and supplies at the pharmacy.
• Lead and manage the technical workforce, including maintaining schedules.

Long-term care pharmacy:

I've worked at a couple of long-term care pharmacies, and I think it's a great place to be a technician. They generally employ many technicians because the workload lends itself to many technical tasks. These pharmacies provide medication needs for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and psychiatric facilities. The typical pharmacy is located in a warehouse. It does not have an open pharmacy where people can go; They receive orders by fax and deliver all medications by courier or drivers to the facility. Oral medication is filled in blister packs (30-tab cards used to provide a 1-month supply of medication), or some other mechanism that provides the facility with a prolonged amount of medication doses that can be maintained in a timely manner. Safe and clean until doses are due. The duties of the pharmacy technician include, among others:

• Fill new and refill orders (different from hospital due to quantity of doses provided)
• Processing of new orders and top-ups through the fax machine
• Request the entrance of rece