Subject Area

Items Covered

Pharmacy & Healthcare

-History of Medicine & Pharmacy Practice

-Pharmacy today

-Computers in pharmacy

-Therapeutic communication skills

-Culturally sensitive pharmacy practice (e.g. gelatin, fasting)

The Pharmacy Technician

-Definition

-All applicable Federal & State Laws

-Roles & Responsibilities

-Scope of Practice

-Tasks that may be performed by the Pharmacy

Technician:

-Entry of prescription or allergy information into a

database.

-Preparation of prescription labels or patient

information.

-Removal of the drug to be dispensed from

inventory.

-The counting, measuring, or compounding of the

drug to be dispensed.

-The packaging and labeling of the drug to be

dispensed and the repackaging thereof.

-The stocking or loading of automated dispensing

or other devices used in the dispensing process.

-The acceptance of refill authorization from a

prescriber or his authorized agent provided there is

no change from the original prescription order.

-Tasks that can not be performed by the Pharmacy

Technician:

-Patient counseling

-Professional judgement or advice

-Taking a new prescription orally from the prescriber

or his authorized agent.

-Giving a copy to, or receiving a copy from another

pharmacy.

-Final checking of a prescription to be dispensed.

-Personal Standards

-Training & Competency

-PTCB Certification, State Registration/Regulation &

Continuing Education; http://www.ptcb.org/ ,

http://www.dhp.virginia.gov/Pharmacy/news_technician.htm ,

http://powerpak.com/ , http://www.rxschool.com/

-Job outlook, http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos252.htm

Drug Regulation & Control

-All applicable Federal & State Laws, DEA

-Regulation & control of drug products

-New Drug Approval (Safety & Effectiveness)

-Controlled Substances

-Marketed Drugs

-Labeling

-National Drug Code (NDC)

Pharmaceutical Terminology

-Applicable Anatomy & Physiology terminology

-Prefixes & Suffixes

-Medical Abbreviations

-Drug Classification

Prescriptions

-Definition

-All applicable Federal & State Laws

-Pharmacy Abbreviations

-Prescription Information

-The Prescription Filling Process

-Labeling

Other Laws, Institutions or Guidelines and their relevance to  Pharmacy Technicians

-Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA),

Blood Borne Pathogens (BBP), Tuberculosis (TB),

Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT), http://www.osha.gov/

-Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), http://www.hrsa.gov/hipaa.htm

-Medicare Parts A, B, and D, http://www.cms.hhs.gov/

Pharmaceutical Calculations

-Roman Numerals

-Fractions

-Decimals

-Significant Figures

-Measurement

-Equations & Variables

-Ratio & Proportion

-Percents & Solutions

-Alligations

-Children’s Dosing

-Business Calculations

-Compounding

-Intravenous Drip-Rates

Routes & Formulations

-Oral formulations

-Sublingual & buccal

-Rectal

-Parenteral routes (IV, IM, SQ, ID, Ophthalmic, Intranasal,

Inhalation, Dermal, Transdermal , Vaginal

Parenterals

-LVP solutions

-SVP solutions

-Syringes

-Needles/Needless systems

-Filters

-Laminar flow hoods

-Biological safety cabinet

-Aseptic technique

-Manipulation of vials, ampules, syringes, and IV bags

-TPN’s

-Dialysis

-Osmosis

-Tonicity

-Irrigation solutions

-Units of measurement

Compounding

-Compounding guidelines

-Compounding equipment

-Using a Class A balance

-Using an Electronic balance

-Volumetric equipment

-Liquid measurement

-Mixing solids and semisolids

-Solutions

-Syrups

-Suspensions

-Ointments & Creams

-Emulsions

-Suppositories

-Capsules

Basic Biopharmaceutics

-How drugs work

-Concentration & effect

-ADME processes & diffusion

-Absorption

-Distribution

-Metabolism

-Excretion

-Bioequivalence

Factors Affecting Drug Activity

-Human variability

-Adverse drug reactions (ADR)

-Drug-drug interactions

-Drug-diet interactions

-Disease state precautions

Information & Reference Materials

-Research literature

-Physicians Desk Reference (PDR)

-Drug Facts and Comparisons

-Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)

-United States Pharmacopoeia Drug Information (USPDI)

-Martindale

-Handbook on Injectable Drugs

-Red Book

-Orange Book

-Journals & Newsletters

-Textbooks

-Handbook of Nonprescription Drugs

-Goodman & Gilman’s

-PDA’s

-Internet

Inventory Management

-Inventory systems

-Computers for order and inventory management

-Automated Dispensing Systems

-Ordering

-Forms

-Stocking and Storage Conditions

Pharmacy Finance

-Third Party Programs

-Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)

-Private Health Insurance

-HMO’s

-Public Programs (subsidies)

-Online Adjudication

-Claim issues & overrides

Pharmacy Practice Areas

-Community Pharmacy

-Institutional Pharmacy (Hospital & LTC)

-Mail Order Pharmacy

-Home Infusion Pharmacy

Pharmacy Errors

-QA/QI

-Prevention & Redundancy

-Reporting