In terms of medical professionals, Pharmacy Technicians’ roles have been developing at a fast pace since the very start of the occupation. “As the physician’s role changed from distributing drugs to diagnosing disease and performing surgery, the role of the pharmacist emerged. The first pharmacy school opened in 1821 at the college of pharmacy and Sciences in Philadelphia” (Mosby 10-11). That school is now called the University of Sciences in Philadelphia. The tasks of pharmacy technicians have changed in means of procedures, responsibilities, and restrictions.
The procedures of pharmacy technicians and pharmacists are very different. The differences between pharmacy technicians and pharmacists are that pharmacists have more schooling, more scope of knowledge, different duties, responsibilities, and salaries. For example, pharmacy technicians cannot counsel patients, for example, if a patient says that she has a headache, the pharmacy technician cannot say, “If you have a headache, try taking imitrex. ” The pharmacist is able to counsel patients.
The ASHP, or American Society of Health System Pharmacists made national guidelines for pharmacy technicians in 1969 to improve standards. The same society also set guidelines for pharmacy technicians that work in hospitals in 1975. The MPA, or Michigan Pharmacists Association created a bulletin for technical assistance on training guidelines for the pharmacy technician training program in 1981. Not only have the procedures changed over the years, but also the responsibilities assigned to the technicians have also been altered in some way.
In order to be an efficient technician in managing inventories, one must know contacts for fast service, be capable of getting products and drugs in a quick manner, and carry out the right billing functions for the pharmacy the technician works for. The distribution of medicine is not the only responsibility of a pharmacy technician as many would think, but it is an important part to getting the job done. When a technician fills prescriptions, there are three ways of going about it.
Before getting into the prescriptions, C-I through C-V drugs are drugs that are also called schedule drugs, they specify the risk for abuse, C-I drugs are drugs having no recognized medical use and have a high probability for abuse. C-I drugs are the most dangerous, C-II are high potential for abuse, but is less than those classified under C-I drugs. C-III have moderate to low potential for abuse. C-IV are lower risk for abuse than C-V.
C-I through C-III examples of these drugs are Xanax, Soma, Valium, and Tramadol. Option 1: where drawer 1 is C-II separate drawer 2, C-III, C-IV, C-V and drawer 3 are all other prescriptions. Option 2: drawer 1 is C-II separate, drawer 2, C-III,C-IV,C-V and all prescription drugs, and option 3: C-II,C-III,C-IV,C-V drawer 3 are all other prescription drugs. Sometimes, there are medical emergencies in the pharmacy, and when that happens the technicians are trained to know how to handle the certain situations.
If a patient were to be going through cardiac arrest, the technician can take the proper steps in helping this individual. If a patient were to call the pharmacy and inquire about filling a new prescription, the call would be transferred to the pharmacist. Other responsibilities added to the occupation are as follows taking care of limited, investigational, and chemotherapy drugs. Technicians and pharmacists have different scopes of practices, in pharmacies, there are many restrictions that technicians have due to lack of pharmacy education.
The restrictions that technicians have that pharmacists do not have such as that technicians cannot counsel patients. Pharmacists can counsel patients. Technicians “cannot share any information with any family members, friends, coworkers, manager of any entity not covered under the HIPPA, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act rules and regulations. ” The state regulations have also been changed for the technicians in each state.
The regulations vary by state. Over the years what it is to be a pharmacy technician, has been transformed. The assignments of drug store professionals have changed in method for systems, obligations, and limitations. Keeping in mind that the medical world is always changing in terms of treatment and expectations, one must also expect the roles of the medical professionals to be rapidly changing in accordance to the changing profession.