Language Skills for Pharmacy Technicians – Understanding The Role of the Pharmacy Technician – Answer key
Category: Assisting the pharmacist in the preparation of prescriptions
- Receiving a written prescription or request for a prescription refill from the patient or representative
- Ensuring completeness of information on prescription
- Preparation of prescription labels
- Retrieving, counting, pouring, weighing, measuring and mixing medications
- Reconstituting medications
- Selecting type of prescription container
- Affixing prescription and auxiliary labels to prescription containers
- Pricing prescriptions
- Filing prescriptions
- Establishing and maintaining patient profiles
- Repackaging and labeling of medications
- Maintaining packaging and dispensing equipment
- Replenishing medications for nursing units, night cupboards, emergency boxes and cardiac arrest kits
- Preparing IV admixtures, TPN solutions, chemotherapeutic agents requiring aseptic technique
- Preparing specialty products
Category: Preparing and reconciling third party billings
- Preparing receipts, invoices, letters and memos, and general filing
- Generating long-term care data (i.e. medication and administration record, medication review)
- Maintaining drug information files
- Billing appropriate department for medication
- Receiving and sending electronic communication
Category: Communication skills
- Communicating with customers, physicians and suppliers. Questions relating to prescriptions, drug information, poison information, or any health matter must be referred to the pharmacist
Category: Inventory Management
- Monitoring stock levels to ensure sufficient quantities for optimal operation
- Preparing and placing orders from specified sources
- Receiving and checking supplies purchased
- Issuing supplies from the storeroom
- Restocking medications and related supplies
- Maintaining storage facilities
- Maintaining inventory records, including those for narcotics and controlled drugs
- Rotating stock and monitoring expiry dates
- Identifying expired products for disposal, destruction, or return to manufacturer
- Prepackaging of medications (including unit dose packaging)
- Delivery of medications to institutional wards
- Restocking of institutional wards with narcotics and controlled drugs