The Pharmacy Technician position functions primarily in the inpatient care areas within the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center. The Pharmacy Service serves adult and elderly Veterans in support of hospital staff by reading and interpreting orders, obtaining medication or material in the proper dose and strength. This position works alongside the Pharmacist to ensure the correct medication is compounded, packaged, and delivered to the correct patient, provider, or automated dispensing system.

Duties

Pharmacy Technician: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Pharmacy-Technician-Career-Flyer.pdf Major duties for the position include (but are not limited to): Reads and interprets prescriptions, obtains proper medication or material in the proper strength and dosage form, determines proper amount and counts, pours, or measures the medications; affixes proper label; and records required data on Pharmacy's copy of prescription/order. After a final check by a pharmacist, dispenses medication in ambulatory care or discharge situations. Performs final review of unit dose medications when prepared by another technician, to be dispensed to inpatient areas (med-carts, ward stock), and/or fills unit-dose carts independently without secondary review when necessary. Inventories and replenishes emergency carts with appropriate medications and supplies. Collects drug use evaluation data for quality improvement purposes as required. Operates and maintains complicated pharmacy equipment such as unit dose prepackaging machines, automatic dispensing machines, IV compounding machines and other pharmacy devices. Able to troubleshoot the equipment and the technology platforms/databases. Compounds and/or reconstitutes oral or external medications (non-sterile). This includes calculating and converting to proper weights and measures the amount of drug or solution to be used. Compounds sterile preparations in accordance with USP 797 and facility policies. Maintains all training and competencies required for sterile compounding. Compounding will include daily and weekly checks and monthly cleaning of compounding areas according to facility policies. After prescription/order(s) are reviewed by a pharmacist for therapeutic propriety, reviews orders for technical accuracy and converts the order, if necessary, so that the item dispensed corresponds to the drug and dose ordered. Answers questions from pharmacy and non-pharmacy personnel with regard to drug distribution procedures and timeframes for delivery. 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. Assists in total quality improvement activities by participating in medical center and service process assessment and action teams, continually seeks to improve services. Maintains, verifies, stocks, and replaces outdates in patient care areas and the areas' automated dispensing machines. Ensures all look alike, sound alike, high alert, refrigerated medications, and hazardous drugs are stored properly according to manufactures recommendations and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) requirement. Monitors inventory needs in-patient care areas, relays this information to the appropriate Pharmacy personnel. This also includes placing stock in proper storage areas, rotating stock on shelves and removing/replacing outdated items. Maintains a training/education manual for the focus area assigned. Provides training and mentorship to new or existing staff. Monitors refrigerator temperature on a daily basis in pharmacy service. Performs all the duties of lower graded technicians, if required. Education/Training Participates in the training and orientation of pharmacy staff. Maintains and improves professional competency by keeping up with information on new medications and innovations in pharmacy practices. Remains up to date on all Talent Management System (TMS) training. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8am-4:30pm, weekends, holidays and hours outside of TOD, subject to change based on the needs of the facility Relocation Incentive: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Ad hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 667-00723-F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). Education or Experience: (1) None required. (2) 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: (1) Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR (2) National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT). 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: Pharmacy Technician, GS-07: Experience. Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower 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: (a) PTCB as a CPhT. OR (b) NHA as a ExCPT. 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. Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Pharmacy technicians at this level are nationally certified and can work autonomously using independent judgement to perform a full range of duties. These pharmacy technicians mentor and train lower graded pharmacy technicians in the practice setting. They assist advanced/ specialized pharmacy technicians and participate in performance improvement initiatives. At this level, pharmacy technicians use independent judgement to perform the full range of duties in the pharmacy. They also function as staff pharmacy technicians in various locations of the pharmacy, including pharmacy contact centers and other non-traditional pharmacy locations, with minimal oversight. Preferred Experience: Knowledge and experience with pharmacy operations. Reference: VA HANDBOOK 5005/159 PART II APPENDIX G28, November 07, 2023. For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS07. Physical Requirements: Physical Demands: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, pulling and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment. Work Environment: work is performed in an office/clinic setting with minimal risks that requires normal safety precautions; the area is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated. However, the work environment requires someone with the ability to handle several tasks at once in sometimes stressful situations.

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 Overton Brooks VA Medical Center 510 East Stoner Avenue Shreveport, LA 71101 US
• Name: Theresa Morehart
• Phone: 501-522-4386
• Email: [email protected]