Inpatient Pharmacy Technician

Duties / Responsibilities

• Responds to routine and emergency requests in a prompt and efficient manner, requiring a relatively high degree of independent judgement.
• Participates in departmental education activities and competency assessment.
• Actively supports and participates in the department's continuous quality improvement initiatives; promotes the organizational commitment to customer service.
• Maintains cleanliness and aseptic technique while following established departmental compounding practices and procedures when mixing intravenous admixtures including IVPBs, large volume parenterals, and total parenteral nutrition, if necessary.
• Delivers controlled substances and other medications to nursing units' automated medication dispensing cabinets (ADC).
• Fills inventory needs for nursing unit ADCs, non-cabinet stock, and fills unit dose drawers by placing the proper drugs in the bins according to the computerized patient profile.
• Safely handles and manipulates cytotoxic and other special drugs and incidental equipment used in drug preparation while working aseptically in a vertical flow hood or biological safety cabinet.
• Utilizes the pharmacy computer system, bills and/or credits patients for medication used.
• Operates the unit dose packaging machine in an accurate and efficient manner. This includes restocking medications and replacing supplies, monitoring machine alarms, and ensuring doses are correctly labeled and prepared for pharmacist check.
• Assumes responsibility for performance of job duties in the safest possible manner, to ensure personal safety and that of coworkers, and to report all preventable hazards and unsafe practices immediately to management.

Requirements

• High School Graduate or GED equivalent.
• Completion of a formal Pharmacy Technician educational program and/or completion of an Associate's Degree is preferred.
• Certification by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) is preferred.
• Previous pharmacy experience, hospital-based pharmacy experience preferred.
• Formal Pharmacy Technician program experiential education may be considered in lieu of work experience.
• Essential mathematics skills to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure.
• Possesses effective computer and keyboarding skills; ability to work with Pharmacy Information Systems and automation used in the medication use process.
• Able to use email to communicate with other members of the department including pharmacy management.
• Excellent critical thinking skills and ability to make decisions in a fast-paced work environment.
• A team oriented colleague that is detail oriented and passionate about medication and patient safety as well as quality initiatives.
• Excellent customer service orientation skills necessary in order to deal effectively with various levels of hospital personnel, outside customers and community groups.

Qualifications

• Preparation of medications and subsequent loading and unloading of medication into ADC with appropriate bar code scanning.
• Restocks crash cart trays and OCMCA boxes etc., as required in a timely manner.
• Alerts the pharmacists or pharmacy management of any discrepancies.
• Fills controlled substance orders and reconciles all discrepancies on a daily basis.
• Reports any discrepancies to the pharmacist or pharmacy management as appropriate.
• Makes preparations and packages chemotherapy medications and other medications requiring special handling for subsequent administration to patients under the supervision of the pharmacist.
• Verifies drug doses and prepares preliminary drug profiles for patients on established chemotherapy protocols.
• Maintains all necessary paperwork, legal documents, and records for all medications, including chemotherapy prepared for administration.
• Utilizes the pharmacy computer system to bill and/or credit patients for medication used.
• Utilizes the MedBoard software system and bar code scanning to track the delivery of medications to the nursing units.