Pharmacy Technician’s main job is to help the licensed pharmacist in their day-to-day duties. From the management of patients contact information to dispensing of a medical prescription, the duties of a technician are clearly outlined.
They may mix label, measure and count dosage based on what is in the prescription form. However, they must (at all times) work under the instructions of a registered pharmacist.
Primary Responsibilities
- Initiate and maintain patients profiles, with more focus on the number and type of medications the patient is taking
- Play a receptionist role i.e. receive a prescription, fill requests and confirm the accuracy of the request and prescriptions.
- Handle phone calls from patients touching on requests or other related questions.
- Dispensing prescriptions as instructed by the pharmacist
- Maintaining a computer database for all the prescriptions given
- Clean the work area and equipment
- Process checks, backorders and invoices. Make orders and restock the pharmacy whenever necessary
- Packaging of drugs into dose and having a record of the dose packages. Fill prescription bottles with the right medications and label them well
- Prepare intravenous packs by adding carefully measured nutrients or drugs to intravenous solutions. Should do this under sterile conditions
- Oversee,, from preparation to processing, all the insurance claim forms
- Keep a good account of drug sales and charges for equipment
Academic Requirements
- Should have at least a high school diploma or equivalent
- Associate degree or bachelor degree in pharmacy or relevant disciplines (e.g. medicine or Dentistry) improve the chances of getting hired and better salary
- Relevant vocational training in pharmacy-related discipline is an added advantage
Experience
- Should have experience as a customer care service provider
- Should have at least one-year experience of working in hospitals. Experience in handling intravenous admixture and or pharmacy computing is an added advantage.
Skills and Abilities
- Must be an active listener to better understand and handle patients’ concerns
- Should be a fast learner i.e. someone who can adapt to new ways of solving problems
- Must be a fluent speaker in order to pass drug information to the patient in the simplest and clearest way possible
- Must possess a high level of social perception i.e. to understand the reasons behind people’s behaviours and serve them accordingly
- Should have exceptional mathematical and comprehension skills to solve problems and understand the contents of work-related forms respectively
- Should be energetic, dynamic and above all time conscious as most pharmacies work on a 24-hour basis and have many patients.
- Should have a near vision (i.e. able to see things clearly at close range) and have a higher problem sensitivity to identify beforehand
- Abilities such as deductive reasoning and information orders are needed to find answers to common problems affecting the patients and be orderly respectively
- Should be service oriented i.e. always finding new ways to help the patients
Being a medical job and the fact that human lives are at stake, thoroughness during recruitment cannot be overemphasized. It is, therefore, necessary that candidates with the requisite vocational or on-job-training be given first priority.
While academic qualifications are important, employers should not ignore exceptional interpersonal skills when recruiting.
