Community Pharmacy
- In addition to prescription drugs, community pharmacies sell over the counter medications as well as other health and beauty products.
- The community pharmacist's role in counseling and educating patients has been steadily increasing.
Regulations
- Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must be knowledgeable regarding the many federal and state regulations that affect the practice of pharmacy.
Organizations
- Pharmacies have basic space and equipment requirements that may vary slightly from state to state but generally include a prescription counter to work on, proper storage areas for drugs, designated refrigerators for drugs, equipment for compounding, a sink, computer system, and areas for dispensing prescriptions.
Customer Service
- Technicians should always response to customers in a positive and courteous way.
Processing Prescriptions
- In the case of a patient requesting an early refill of a controlled substance, involve the pharmacist right away.
- Processing new prescriptions involves entering patient information and prescription drug information, as well as billing information.
Preparing the Prescription
- Whenever the prescription system flags drug interactions and allergy conflicts, alert the pharmacist so that he or she can evaluate the significance of the flag.
- Every drug product has a unique, 11-digit national drug code (NDC) number that can used when filling a prescription to verify the correct product has been retrieved from stock.
- All dispensed prescription vials and bottles must have a safety cap or child resistant cap, unless the patient requests an easy open or non child resistant cap.
- Auxiliary labels identify important usage information, including specific warnings or alerts on: administration, proper storage, possible side effects, and potential food and drug interactions.
- As a final step of the preparation process, the final product and all paperwork, including the original prescription, is organized for the pharmacist's final check.
Customer Pick Up
- Customer signatures in a log are required for Medicaid and most third party insurers or HMO prescriptions, along with Schedule V controlled substances, poisons, and certain other prescriptions (depending upon the state).
Other Duties
- With the exception of behind the counter OTC medications, OTC products may be bought freely by customers, but they are not without risks. The technician may direct customers to a product but should involve the pharmacist when making recommendations.
- Ordering stock is often a responsibility of the pharmacy technicians.
- The pharmacy technician is generally responsible for keeping the pharmacy clean, neat, and in proper working order.
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