What does a Pharmacy Technician do?

Pharmacy Technicians typically work for pharmacies, hospitals or health clinics to receive prescription orders from Physicians and fill prescriptions as needed. They work closely with Pharmacists and other Pharmacy Technicians to prepare prescriptions and help customers. Their job is to receive stock orders from pharmaceutical companies and review order requests from Physicians to determine new prescriptions or changes to existing customer prescriptions. They may also be responsible for helping customers update their contact or insurance information on file.

Pharmacy Technician skills and qualifications

A professional Pharmacy Technician should possess numerous skills in order to complete their duties effectively, such as:

• Supply and inventory management skills
• Attention to detail and analytical skills
• Ability to create a safe and productive environment
• Exemplary customer service skills
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Dependable team player
• Advanced verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment

What is an Advanced Pharmacy Technician III?

A pharmacy technician III is a medical professional who has completed all the pharmacy technician I and II requirements and advances to the higher levels of study. A pharmacy technician III is typically the highest level of certification in the career path and requires more experience and training. Pharmacy tech III positions typically require a minimum of six months to one year as a pharmacy technician and up to three to five years of experience performing more advanced duties than pharmacy technician I or II. This might include light management duties or other duties as requested by the pharmacist.

Advanced Pharmacy Technician III

Here are some primary responsibilities for a pharmacy technician III:

• Sterile IV Compounding
• Chemotherapy Compounding
• Classifying pharmaceuticals
• Preparing daily work reports
• Supervising other pharmacy technicians
• Ensuring the pharmacy team meets goals and expectations
• Performing advanced prescription preparation
• Performing performance evaluations for other technicians
• Conducting quality assurance audits
• Following state and local narcotics storage regulations
• Answering patient questions and comments
• Performing inventory maintenance and control

MTINY Sterile Compounding Provide students with a complete introduction to institutional pharmacy practice and practicing Pharmacy Technicians II with preparation for the new sterile compounding certification exam. Comprehensively covering sterile products, aseptic technique, and the workings of the sterile compounding facility, MTINY Sterile Compounding for Pharmacy Technicians II focuses on safe and effective practice. Our Pharmacy Technician II program has expanded and updated coverage to address preparation, processing, medications, technique, and documentation, with review, analysis, applications, waste management, workflow, safety and compliance, billing and reimbursement, and emergency management.

The Medical Training Institute of New York provides sterile compounding training programs for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians that are designed to meet current and emerging educational needs. MTINY sterile compounding training programs are based on current regulatory guidelines specified by USP <797> and USP <800> standards.

MTINY strive to provide affordable access to high-quality education training programs, related to sterile compounding. Participants, who satisfactorily complete a program, receive a certificate of completion and will be allowed to sit for certification for Certified Sterile Processing technician (CSPT).

• Prepare medications requiring compounding of sterile products.
• Define and explain key elements of USP 797.
• Collect the correct ingredients for sterile products requiring compounding.
• Accurately determine the correct amounts of ingredients for a compounded product.
• Compound sterile products using appropriate techniques, equipment, and devices.
• Prepare medications requiring compounding of non-sterile products.
• Compound non-sterile products using appropriate techniques.

• Introduce the rationale and development of TPN, chemotherapy, and intermittent infusion administration policies.
• Demonstrate proper technique for mixing and labeling thrombolytic drugs.
• Demonstrate proper technique for mixing and labeling cardiac drips.
• Understand the basic indications, mechanism of action, and specific drugs in the cardiac class.
• Calculate for specific drug concentrations, drip rates, and volume of cardiac medications needed for mixing.
• Demonstrate proper technique for mixing and labeling chemotherapy.
• Understand the basic indications, mechanism of action, and specific drugs in the chemotherapy class.
• Demonstrate proper technique for mixing and labeling TPNs.
• Understand the basic indications, mechanism of action, and specific drugs used for TPNs.
• Calculate for specific drug concentrations and fluid volumes of drugs needed to mix a TPN.
• Understand basic mixing and labeling requirements for compounded items.
• Prepare medications requiring compounding of chemotherapy/hazardous products.
• Compound cytotoxic and other hazardous medication products using appropriate techniques.
• (Applying) Follow safety policies and procedures when disposing of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.
• Follow policies and procedures for sanitation management, hazardous waste handling (e.g., needles), and infection control (e.g., protective clothing).
• Demonstrate skill in cleaning up a cytotoxic or other hazardous medication product spill using the accepted procedure.

An area of great progress in Healthcare technology has been the wide adoption of automated dispensing cabinets for medications and supplies in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

This technology employs the use of storage units that operate somewhat like vending machines for medical products, but also have sophisticated software on the back-end that handles patient orders, medication dosing documentation, inventory management, and billing transactions. This course will cover automated dispensing cabinets as well as centralized pharmacy automation products.

This course is designed to provide skills necessary to effectively practice in retail stores (CVS/Walgreen Pharmacy) and ambulatory care settings. Students learn to interpret prescription contents, familiarize the top 100 drugs, inventory control procedures, tasks associated with procurement of pharmaceuticals, completing and filing records for third-party reimbursement, and requirements for completing and filing prescription records. Students are also introduced to non-sterile compounding.