Rapid City CBOC Pharmacy Technician The employee will assist the pharmacist in providing optimal care and timely service in accordance with the mission, vision, and goals of the VA BHHCS. The incumbent is expected to accomplish all duties related to stocking, delivering, inventory, inspections, assembling ward orders, dispensing, distribution, and any other function related to pharmaceutical practices.

Duties

Duties include, but are not limited to: Technical Activities: 1) Maintains work areas in a clean and orderly condition by assuring that all stock and equipment are in assigned places and all shelves and counters are free of dust and debris to create optimal work areas. 2) Assures drugs and supplies are appropriately stored and secured according to USP and VA guidelines, including the storage of high-risk, look a-like sound a-like, hazardous, corrosive chemical, flammable liquids, and refrigerated items. 3) Receives, checks, rotates, and places in stock all items received from pharmacy procurement section and identifies and reconciles any discrepancies to assure correct items have been received. 4) Utilizes automation dispensing equipment available to the pharmacy staff following all safety and QA procedures. Troubleshoots &/or reports automation malfunctions timely to the supervisor as appropriate. 5) Records expiration dates in the automatic prescription dispensing system upon receipt. 6) Perform monthly inspections to assigned areas to ensure proper storage of medications and soon to be expired drugs are removed. Completes inspection reports in compliance with regulatory requirements. 7) Answers questions from pharmacy and non-pharmacy personnel regarding drug distribution. Identifies basic therapeutic problems, such as duplicate therapy with drugs in the same class and alerts the pharmacist to the possible need for clinical intervention. 8) Assists in training and orientation of new staff technicians, interns, and students. Assumes an active role in the overall pharmacy-training program consisting of students, externs, interns, residents, and professional and non-professional staff members. 9) Demonstrates the ability to work under a variety of circumstances to maximize group productivity and quality. 10) Performs duties of all lower grade technicians as needed. 11) Participate in performance improvement initiatives for pharmacy. 12) Assists in quality improvement activities by participating in assessment and action teams that will improve service as assigned. 13) Assists higher level technicians as needed. 14) Completes all National, VISN, local, and Pharmacy mandatory trainings in a timely manner. 15) Maintains national certification with PTCB or ExCPT. 16) Complies with all VHA, Medical Center, and Pharmacy regulations, directives, policies, and procedures. 17) Communicates well with supervisor and workgroup. Trouble shoots and reports needs and issues appropriately. 18) May be assigned to work in other areas of pharmacy service as deemed necessary by the Chief, Pharmacy Service or Supervisor. 19) This position works within and supports a workgroup (workgroup is considered Pharmacy staff assigned to complete similar work). Pharmacy Activities: 1) Correctly inventories, assesses, and determines the need for floor stock and external medication. 2) Follows established policies and procedures, schedules, inventory levels, and usage rate reports to determine appropriate stock levels for specific areas of use. 3) Accurately fills prescription items for wards using Automatic Replenishment reports. 4) Assures that each assigned area inspected meets established standards for appropriate drug storage conditions including drug security for inspection and accreditation. 5) Subject matter expert of ScriptCenter. Troubleshooting and addressing technical issues where needed. 6) Verifies linking of the ScriptCenter batched medications are done appropriately and accurately. 7) Verifies that the patients have picked up their medications in a timely manner. 8) Contacts patients if their packages have been in the ScriptCenter for more than 3 days and coordinates other arrangements for dispensing (i.e., sending back to main site for mail out options or returning to stock). 9) Reads and interprets prescriptions from the Veteran electronic health record (EHR) or in written format. 10) Dispenses medications following all regulations, policies, and procedures for safe medication distribution. 11) Executes contingency plans to maintain operations during outages. 12) Maintains highly sophisticated pharmacy equipment. This includes cleaning procedures and maintenance of ScriptCenter. 13) Assists with automated or manual inventory processes that include but are not limited to inventory counts, medication ordering, stocking, check and appropriately mange expired and nearly expiring medications, pulling recalled medications or any other activity related to the supply of medications. Work Schedule: Full-time; Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:30 Telework: If approved, will be on an ad-hoc basis Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

All requirements must be met by the close date of this announcement. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Education or Experience: None required. For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level. Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT). English Language Proficiency. Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: GS-7 Pharmacy Technician Experience: Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-6. This experience includes but is not limited to: Knowledge of Federal and state laws related to pharmacy practice; Knowledge of preparation, storage and distribution of medication products including those requiring special handling and documentation; Ability to use pharmacy information systems or operate pharmacy dispensing equipment; Knowledge of basic inventory procedures; Ability to communicate with patients and staff and direct questions to appropriate personnel. AND Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: PTCB as a CPhT. OR NHA as a ExCPT. AND Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience above, the candidate MUST demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of pharmacy technician principles, practices, concepts and theories providing for sound independent work. (b) Knowledge of the computerized prescription process and input of prescriptions and medication orders or electronic equivalent. (c) Ability to resolve pharmacy/medication issues with other members of the healthcare team, Veterans and external customers. (d) Ability to train developmental pharmacy technicians and students. (e) Ability to dispense medication or sterile products following all regulations, policies and procedures to ensure safe medication distribution. (f) Ability to troubleshoot automated dispensing equipment (ADE) or technology platforms/databases. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/159 PART II APPENDIX G28 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-7. Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination. Grandfathering Provision. Pharmacy technicians employed in VHA on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: (1) Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. (2) Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/ registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/ certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels. (3) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. (4) Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. (5) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address VA Black Hills Health Care System 113 Comanche Road Fort Meade, SD 57741 US
• Name: Adam Abbott
• Phone: 612-629-7067
• Email: [email protected]