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In the not so distant past when you walked into a pharmacy needing to get a prescription filled you would have, in most situations, discovered that your prescription was truly filled by the on duty pharmacists. Nonetheless, more than the previous couple of years a change has occurred in the pharmacist arena and that alter is, "a pharmacist possibly no longer filling your prescriptions". Despite the fact that pharmacists are on duty wherever drugs are dispensed today in most instances, a pharmacy technician or pharmacy assistant are the ones filling prescriptions. Pharmacy Technicians and assistants have existed for some time but their roles have evolved for a range of factors. A huge purpose is that they assist to minimize health care costs since they get paid a lot less than a certified pharmacist. One more critical reason is that it simply makes sense. Pharmacy technicians and assistants are trained to take care of routine operate (fill prescriptions and client service), which frees up the pharmacists to concentrate more of their time on supervisory duties, as well as patient care. Melissa Murer, Executive Director of the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board, place it this way, "Pharmacists are becoming a lot more focused on patient care, so pharmacy technicians are necessary to carry out far more of the distributive functions." In this brief (but hopefully informative article) I try to demonstrate what pharmacy technician and assistants do and exactly where they do it. national certification pharmacy technician In general, they assist licensed pharmacists in delivering medication and wellness care to patients by preparing and filling prescriptions and performing clerical tasks. Duties are related but pharmacy technicians usually have more responsibilities. In addition, technicians and assistants are essential to be closely supervised by a licensened pharmacist, although the laws defining what "becoming supervised" entails, varies by state. In addition to obtaining all of their prescriptions checked by a pharmacist, technicians and assistants must also direct all patient questions regarding drug details, health matters or prescriptions to the pharmacist. Pharmacy Technicians Technicians stick to particular procedures when filling prescriptions. Immediately after receiving an initial prescription or refill request, they have to verify that the prescription info is accurate and then count, pour, retrieve, weigh, measure and if essential, mix the needed medication for the prescription. The next step is to prepare and affix the labels to the suitable container. Immediately after filling the prescription the technician will then price tag and file it. Another critical aspect of a technician's job is to prepare patient insurance coverage types and establish and preserve patient profiles. In retail pharmacies, technicians will also stock and take inventory of drugs (each prescription and over-the-counter) maintain equipment and assist handle the till. In a lot of hospitals, technicians have the responsibility to read the physicians orders from a patients' chart, prepare and then deliver the medication right after it is been checked by a pharmacist. They may possibly also enter info about patients' health-related records (relating to their medicines) or put collectively a provide (typically 24 hours) of medicine for patients, like the labeling and packaging of each and every dose. But just like technicians operating in a retail pharmacy, each and every package is checked by the supervising pharmacist prior to getting offered to a patient and they also maintain inventories of medicine and other supplies. Pharmacy Assistants Duties are comparable to pharmacy technicians and while hospitals and pharmacies employ pharmacy assistants, the quantity of available positions is generally much less than technicians. In retail pharmacies they function as clerks or cashiers, answer phones, take care of money and execute clerical duties. In hospitals they also deliver medications and assist in stocking shelves. Pharmacy technicians and assistants work in clean nicely-organized areas but are necessary to spend most of their workday on their feet. And since a lot more and more pharmacies are open 24-hours a day function hours can differ with technicians and assistants are typically required to operate odds hours (nights, evenings and weekends). Consequently, there are several opportunities to operate portion-time in 24-hour pharmacies. In addition, a percentage of each technicians and assistants function part time since they are studying to turn out to be pharmacists. States have traditionally needed a one particular-to-1 ratio of pharmacist to technician but that is also anticipated to modify. Mark Boesen, Director of Government and Student Affairs for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, has stated that: "Numerous of the significant employers of technicians are expanding the quantity of their facilities and boards of pharmacy in some States are permitting the legal ratio of technicians to pharmacists to expand. This is a really promising field to perform in." national certification pharmacy technician An growing demand for technicians with higher responsibility has prompted some States to revise their 1-to-1 ratio of pharmacist to technician to two or 3 technicians per pharmacist. As pharmacy technicians take on more and much more tasks previously performed by pharmacists, they have to also discover and master new technology. A great example is the enhanced use (by numerous pharmacies) of robotic machines to dispense medicines. Technicians will be needed to oversee the machine, stock bins and label containers. This article might be reproduced only in its entirety.