Pharmacy Technician; Inpatient

Summary

The Pharmacy Technician is nationally certified by PTCB or ExCPT and works autonomously – using independent judgement to assist the pharmacist in providing optimal care and timely service with the mission – vision – and goals of the Battle Creek VA Medical Center; they are expected to acquire and maintain a high level of accurate productivity and performance.

• United States Citizenship:
  Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to VA policy.
• Education or
  
  Experience:
  
  none required.
• 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 health career association (NHA) – certified pharmacy technician (ExCPT)
• english language proficiency
• candidates must be proficient in spoken and written english to be appointed as authorized by 38
  
  USC
  7403f
• 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)
• creditable experience
• to be creditable – a candidate must possess the required knowledge – skills and abilities (KSAs) associated with the scope of pharmacy technician practice
• the candidate's experience must be evidenced by active professional practice
• (active professional practice means paid/non-paid employment as a professional pharmacy technician.) general experience
• (1) any type of work that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work of the position – or (2) experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation
• successful completion of a course for medical technicians – hospital corpsmen – medical service specialists or hospital training obtained in a training program given by the armed forces or the US maritime service under close medical and professional supervision is creditable on a month-for-month basis for general experience
• part-time experience
• part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time work week
• for example – one week of full-time credit is equivalent to two weeks of half-time work
• quality of experience
• qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to pharmacy technician experience at the next lower grade level
• for all assignments above the full performance level – the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope – administrative independence – complexity and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time
• specialized experience
• experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge – skills and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of the position and is typically in – or related to – the work of the position to be filled
• to be creditable – specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level
• applicants who have one year of appropriate specialized experience are not required to have general experience – education above the high school level or any additional specialized experience to meet the minimum qualification requirements
• successful completion of pertinent specialized training courses in pharmaceutical and pharmacy practices while serving in the armed forces is creditable on a month-for-month basis up to the one year of specialized experience
• grade determinations: gs07 experience: candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (gs06)
• examples of experience include: fill orders – dispense/deliver medications using automated systems or provide technical customer service related to prescription needs
• delivery of medications to floors/patients – filling medications for the pharmacist to review
• checking for expired medications
• answering phones with appropriate disposition
• preparing sterile products (when applicable)
• assi…