Pharmacy Technician, Correctional Health Services (Float)

Unit Dose and Carry Drug Distribution Systems

• Picks up patient medication orders from clinic, mini-clinic areas, etc. on a routine basis.
• Scans medication orders to other buildings or central pharmacy.
• Assists in maintaining accurate patient profiles by informing the pharmacist of changes in patient names, I.D. number or housing so modifications can be made in the pharmacy database.
• Fills and labels patient cassettes with non-carry and carry system medication bags from computer generated fill lists, and/or original drug orders.
• Fills and labels patient discharge medications from a prescription order.
• Fills and labels DOT medications.
• Once checked by pharmacist, delivers same to nursing.
• Obtains court medication list from General Office.
• Reviews distribution list to see if patient will be getting medication in morning.
• Reviews what is in Pyxis. If medication is not in Pyxis, provides dose for morning court medications. If medication is not in Pyxis, technician can have it added to Pyxis.
• Affirms number of patients receiving methadone keep and detox into the statistics in the RX Daily Stats Activity Report form in the computer.
• Reviews methadone distribution books, circles date of missing methadone dose and enters that information into methadone missed doses database on a daily basis.
• Notifies pharmacist of same.
• Contact outside methadone clinics to verify last dose and date of methadone.
• Tells pharmacist of patient’s last dose and date of methadone administration.
• Requests from other agencies should be referred to the pharmacist on duty.
• Prints and reviews all transfer reports, checks if the patients is on medication, prints patient medication profile and fills needed doses of medication for subsequent checking by pharmacist.
• If patient is on methadone or DOT medications, tells pharmacist of such.
• Can contact other building pharmacy to obtain needed DOT MAR or methadone distribution sheet.
• Transports patient cassettes to medication clinic areas and exchanges same when necessary.
• Fills Pyxis machines as required.
• Files Pyxis reports with non pyxis stock records and retains them for 1 week.
• On a monthly basis checks for outdated medications in Pyxis, clinic floor stock, pharmacy stock and other areas where pharmacy stores medications.
• Maintains established par levels based on individual clinic or infirmary need.
• Records issues of stock on the non pyxis Floor Stock Inventory and Issue Record.
• Delivers emergency boxes and other requested items to clinic or infirmary areas as needed.
• Prepares weekly pharmacy stock order by utilizing par levels and building usage patterns for review by the pharmacist.
• Enters order into IDWhere and transmits on both a daily and weekly basis to packaging.
• Reconciles packing slip or invoice against items received.
• Notifies building pharmacist and packaging manager of any discrepancies.
• Puts away orders upon receipt, appropriately rotating stocks as required.
• Inspects all drug storage areas (clinic, mini-clinic, urgi-center, infirmary, pharmacy, par level rooms, dental, X-Ray, etc.) for outdated medication, IV solutions and related supplies on a monthly basis.
• Sorts, counts, prepares outdated drug manifest and packs up outdated medications for return to Central Medical Supply for submission to a reverse distributor.
• Prepares and records the prepackaging of extemporaneous unit dose medication.
• Records daily statistics on the RX Daily Stats Activity Report form in the computer.
• Gathers and records other statistical and survey information as required.
• Faxes or emails to appropriate party as requested.

Medication Distribution

• Distributes medication that has been checked and approved by the pharmacist to the correctly identified patient for self-administration in the proper way and at the proper time.
• Records receipt of the medication by the patient by clearly initialing and recording the number of days’ supply given on the MDR and by computer entry.
• (As described in the Medication Distribution Policy.)
• Refers to the pharmacist or clinic any patient who requires further information concerning their medication, is non-compliant, or is having difficulty tolerating their medication.
• Contacts the clinic captain, control room or tour commander in the event of DOC related delays in distributing medications.
• Contacts on-island administrator in the event of a delay or any other occurrences or problems which adversely affects the above procedures.
• Once a problem has been reported, keeps the on-island administrator informed about either the progress or lack thereof in distributing medication.
• (As described in the Disruption of Services Policy.)

Packaging

• Sets up and operates liquid and solid unit dose repackaging machines.
• Responsible for the proper maintenance and cleanliness of the machine at the end of each run.
• Packages oral solids into plastic zip-lock bags for the carry system.
• Maintains proper record keeping and control procedures as outlined in the Packaging policy.