 Pharmacy
technicians help licensed
Pharmacists provide medication and other health care products to
patients. Technicians usually perform routine tasks to help prepare
prescribed medication, such as counting tablets and labeling bottles.
They also perform administrative duties, such as answering phones,
stocking shelves, and operating cash registers. Technicians refer any
questions regarding prescriptions, drug information, or health matters
to a pharmacist.
Pharmacy technicians
who work in retail or mail-order pharmacies have varying
responsibilities, depending on State rules and regulations. Technicians
receive written prescriptions or requests for prescription refills from
patients. They also may receive prescriptions sent electronically from
the doctor's office. They must verify that information on the
prescription is complete and accurate. To prepare the prescription,
technicians must retrieve, count, pour, weigh, measure, and sometimes
mix the medication. Then, they prepare the prescription labels, select
the type of prescription container, and affix the prescription and
auxiliary labels to the container. Once the prescription is filled,
technicians price and file the prescription, which must be checked by a
pharmacist before it is given to the patient. Technicians may establish
and maintain patient profiles, prepare insurance claim forms, and stock
and take inventory of prescription and over-the-counter medications.
 In
hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted-living facilities, technicians
have added responsibilities, including reading patients' charts and
preparing the appropriate medication. After the pharmacist checks the
prescription for accuracy, the pharmacy technician may deliver it to the
patient. The technician then copies the information about the prescribed
medication onto the patient's profile. Technicians also may assemble a
24-hour supply of medicine for every patient. They package and label
each dose separately. The packages are then placed in the medicine
cabinets of patients until the supervising pharmacist checks them for
accuracy, and only then is the medication given to the patients.
Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the US Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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