Job Description

Pharmacy Technician

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provides appropriate selection of drug therapy based upon the pharmaceutical principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; monitoring for efficacy, side effects and clinical outcome; and advises prescribers as appropriate.
• Provides patient-specific therapeutic drug monitoring and communicates relevant findings and/or recommendations to other health care providers. Monitoring will include prospective review and intervention in:
• Therapeutic appropriateness of a patient's drug regimen
• Therapeutic duplication in the patient's drug regimen
• Appropriateness of the route and method of administration
• Degree of patient compliance with the prescribed drug regimen
• Drug-drug, drug-food, drug-laboratory, or drug disease interactions
• Clinical and pharmacokinetic laboratory data to evaluate the efficacy of drug therapy and to anticipate side effects, toxicity, or adverse effects
• Physical signs and clinical symptoms relevant to the patient's drug therapy
• Performs continuous evaluation of prescribed medications to assure optimal drug therapy.
• Provides medication counseling to patients
• Completes medication histories including patient interviews
• Serves as a drug information resource by providing up-to-date drug information to prescribers, other health care professionals, patients and caregivers
• Update the medication profile to reflect an accurate, active list of VA and non-VA medications. This may include adding non-VA medications or discontinuing duplicate medications or those the patient is not taking
• Assesses drug safety and efficacy, including evaluation of physical symptoms
• Reports adverse drug events, near misses, and medication errors in alignment with the facility reporting program
• Participates in the medical center medication utilization evaluation (MUE) program
• Recommends formulary alternatives and completes non-formulary consults as assigned
• Implements P&T Committee policies including therapeutic interchanges and automatic substitutions to include appropriate patient and provider education
• Manages recalls and medication shortage situations by substituting alternate dosage strengths and instructions of the same medication to equal the prescribed dose and schedule
• Enters supply orders appropriate for patient care per facility policy
• Manages various actions, as appropriate, for medication orders to include flagging prescriptions, managing view alerts and using the "hold medication" function
• Extends refills until next scheduled appointment under the provider's name per policy
• Serves as role model and preceptor to pharmacy students, technicians and residents
• Assumes an active role in staff development of peers and provides educational in-services to nursing, medical staff or to other ancillary services
• The pharmacist is responsible for maintaining his/her professional competency by keeping abreast of current medical and pharmaceutical literature, new medications, and therapies, and applies this knowledge in his/her daily duties
• Reviews all medication orders for appropriateness, drug selection, dosage, route of administration and the amount, prior to dispensing
• Ensures all medication orders are entered into the electronic patient medical record
• Fills all orders in a timely fashion; review of the patient's allergy history, drug-drug, drug-nutrient, drug-laboratory and drug-disease state interactions and assessment for clinical relevance should be performed and dealt with appropriately
• Reviews medication profiles and monitors for compliance or potential abuse; problems encountered shall be resolved
• Selects, compounds, dispenses, and fills a range of medications. Adequate quality assurance procedures shall be followed as applicable
• Maintains adequate drug stock, inspects drug storage areas and ensures the automated dispensing equipment functions properly
• Supervises the activities of support personnel
• Ensures drugs dispensed are completely and correctly labeled and packaged in full compliance with Federal rules and regulations
• Provides education to health care providers regarding medication use
• Maintains basic knowledge of pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacotherapeutics in the area of practice
• Assumes an active role in the overall pharmacy-training program consisting of students, technicians, residents, and professional and non-professional staff Keeps abreast of new developments in pharmacy practice and drug therapy by reading pharmacy and medical literature and participating in continuing education programs

Work Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours/week

Telework: Ad-hoc

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 000000

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

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