W. Va. Code R. § 15-7-5 - Duties and Restrictions of a Pharmacy Technician and Pharmacy Technician Trainee

5.1. A pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician trainee may not:

5.1.a. receive verbal prescription drug orders and reduce these orders to writing either manually or electronically;

5.1.b. interpret and evaluate prescription drug orders;

5.1.c. select drug products;

5.1.d. interpret patient medication records and perform drug regimen reviews;

5.1.e. deliver the prescription to the patient before a pharmacist performs the final check of the dispensed prescription to ensure that the prescription has been dispensed accurately as prescribed;

5.1.f. communicate to the patient or the patient's agent, information about the prescription drug or device which in the exercise of the pharmacist's professional judgment, the pharmacist considers significant;

5.1.g. communicate to the patient or the patient's agent, information concerning any prescription drugs dispensed to the patient by the pharmacy;

5.1.h. receive or place a call for a transferred prescription;

5.1.i. perform any act within the practice of pharmacist care that involves discretion or independent professional judgment; or

5.1.j. perform all pharmacy related functions which the registrant has not been trained and the function has not been specified in a written protocol with competency established.

5.2. The duties of a registered pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician trainee may include, but are not limited, to the following:

5.2.a. the placement, receipt, unpacking and storage of drug orders;

5.2.b. maintenance of the work area and equipment in a clean and orderly condition;

5.2.c. the ordering and stocking of all pharmacy supplies;

5.2.d. the checking of all prescription and non-prescription stock for outdates and the processing of outdated returns;

5.2.e. the operation of the cash register. However, the pharmacy technician shall

5.2.e.1. only handle the complete transaction on refill prescriptions when specifically requested to do so by the pharmacist and when the patient has no questions for the pharmacist;

5.2.e.2. only handle the transactions on new prescriptions after counseling by the pharmacist has been offered; and

5.2.e.3. refer all questions regarding over the counter and prescription drug product selection or advice to the pharmacist;

5.2.f. the filing of completed hard-copies of new prescriptions, in numerical order;

5.2.g. the placement of completed prescription orders on the will-call shelf;

5.2.h. the wrapping of completed orders for mailing and the logging of mailed and delivered orders into a record;

5.2.i. the printing of third-party billings, the processing of the billings for mailing and the transmission of electronically handled third-party billings;

5.2.j. the reconciliation of third-party payments;

5.2.k. the contacting of third-party billers and payers if problems arise while handling a patient's insurance transmissions;

5.2.l. the posting of patient purchases to private charge accounts and assisting with the printing and distribution of the monthly statements;

5.2.m. the handling of non-professional phone calls to or from:

5.2.m.1. patients requesting refills of prescriptions by number and patient name;

5.2.m.2. physicians' offices authorizing refills, if no changes in the prescription are involved, and where the patient's name, medication and strength, number of doses, and date of prior fill is stated. The pharmacy technician shall refer any other inquiries by the prescribing physician's office to the pharmacist;

5.2.m.3. patients concerning price information that has been calculated by computer;

5.2.m.4. patients concerning business hours, mailing and delivery services, and the availability of goods and services;

5.2.m.5. patients asking if their prescriptions are refillable and the number of refills remaining. Any interpretation of the proper length of time between refills must be handled by the pharmacist;

5.2.m.6. wholesalers and distributors dealing with the ordering of goods and supplies; and

5.2.m.7. physicians' offices regarding patient profile information, where no interpretation or judgment is necessary and only after the pharmacy technician verifies to whom the information is being given.

5.2.n. the acceptance of refill requests and the acceptance of new written prescriptions from patients or their agents after determining the following: the patient's correct name, address, phone number, birth date, drug allergies, disease state(s), and the method of payment;

5.2.o. the entering of prescription data and patient profile data into the computer. The pharmacy technician shall refer any information needing clarification or interpretation to the pharmacist. The pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician trainee shall:

5.2.o.1. Monitor the label printing; and

5.2.o.2. Alert the pharmacist to any duplication of medication, drug therapy overlap, drug interactions, drug-disease state interactions, and any questions that arise from entering the information.

5.2.p. the performance of tasks under the pharmacist's supervision, such as obtaining stock bottles for prescription filling;

5.2.q. the counting and pouring from stock bottles for individual prescriptions only under the direct supervision of a pharmacist. The pharmacist shall initial the hard copy of the prescription and the label to account for the accuracy of the prescription contents and the accuracy of the labeling;

5.2.r. the reconstitution and restoration of the original form of medication previously altered for preservation and storage by the addition of a specific quantity of an appropriate diluent requiring no calculations. The pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician trainee may assist in the preparation of compounded sterile and non-sterile preparations under the direct supervision of a pharmacist. In all cases, the pharmacist shall check and verify the accuracy of the pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician trainee;

5.2.s. the weighing or measuring of specific ingredients for the pharmacist to use in extemporaneous compounding. In all cases the accuracy of the weighing and measuring must be verified by the pharmacist;

5.2.t. under the direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist, a pharmacy technician may perform the following:

5.2.t.1. Perform pharmacy technician product verification where no clinical judgment is necessary and the pharmacist provides the final verification;

5.2.t.2. Complete a list of a patient's current prescription and nonprescription medications to provide for medication reconciliation;

5.2.t.3. Supervise registered pharmacy technicians and pharmacy technician trainees;

5.2.t.4. Medical records screening;

5.2.t.5. Administer immunizations per W. Va. 15 CSR 12.

5.3. The pharmacist-in-charge shall not allow anyone within the pharmacy area to perform pharmaceutical care other than, pharmacists, registered pharmacy technicians, pharmacy technician trainees and pharmacy interns. A ratio of no more than six pharmacy technicians and/or pharmacy technician trainees per on-duty pharmacist operating in any pharmacy shall be maintained, to be determined by the discretion of the pharmacist-in-charge (PIC). This ratio shall not include pharmacy interns. The PIC shall have final approval of the ratio of pharmacy technicians operating in the pharmacy. Any decisions overriding such control of the PIC may be grounds for disciplinary action against the pharmacy permit.

5.4. A registered pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician trainee shall not handle any telephone calls for new prescriptions from a physician's office and shall immediately transfer the calls to a pharmacist, except in the case of refill requests as set forth in subsection 5.2.m.

5.5. A person who handles a prescription drug only during the point of sale to provide the prescription drug to a patient and accept payment is not subject to the licensure requirements of West Virginia Code of State Rules §15-7. This handling process includes the cashier having access to the pharmacy's operating system to verify unique information for each patient. A pharmacy may require an individual to complete a criminal background check before he or she is hired.

Notes

W. Va. Code R. § 15-7-5