Pharmacy Technician

Summary

The Pharmacy Technician is a certified professional expected to provide a variety of complex technical functions that requires the application of an extensive knowledge of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy practices. The employee assists the pharmacist in providing optimal pharmaceutical care and timely customer service in accordance with the mission, vision and goals of VA Healthcare System.

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Duties

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VA Careers - Pharmacy :

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

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)

General Duties

• Accurately interpret, fills, and prepares prescriptions with appropriate medications and or medical supplies for pharmacist verification.
• Assures drugs and supplies are appropriately stored and secured according to USP and VA guidelines
• Perform monthly inspections to assigned areas to ensure proper storage of medications and soon to expired drugs are removed.
• Completes procurement duties which include assisting with monitoring and management of physical inventory.
• Reconstitutes oral or external medications (non-sterile).
• Assists in training and orientation of new staff.

Controlled Substances Activities:

These functions will be assisting in or the absence of a controlled substance technician.

• Appropriately restocks controlled substances items in automated secured cabinets.
• Documents all controlled substance related transactions as indicated by VA and DEA guidelines.
• Assures that inventory counts are correct at the time of restocking and filling.
• Ensures proper handoff occurs when receiving or delivering controlled substances.

Inpatient Pharmacy Activities

(when assigned):

Sterile Product Compounding.

These functions will be assisting in or the absence of the sterile compounding technician.

• Follow USP 797/800 Guidelines for the compounding of all sterile preparations, including ophthalmic, cardioplegic, TPN, hazardous, large & small volume IV solutions, PCAs, etc.
• Correctly interprets physician orders, selects, and measures appropriate ingredients, mixes ingredients in a safe and effective manner, inspects the final product for accuracy, suitability, and elegance, labels the product, maintains records of the manufacturing process.

Unit Dose Medication Management

• Performs review of medications prepared by another pharmacy employee to be dispensed to clinic areas.
• Inventories and replenishes emergency trays.
• Operates and maintains automated dispensing unit dose systems.

Automatic Replenishment/Ward Stock

• Correctly inventories, assesses, and determines the need for floor stock and external medication.
• Follows established policies and procedures, schedules, inventory levels, and usage rate reports to determine appropriate stock levels for specific areas of use.
• Accurately fills prescription items for wards using Automatic Replenishment reports.

Outpatient Pharmacy Activities

(when assigned):

Prescription Assembly

• Assembles prescriptions properly with the correct drug, strength, quantity, auxiliary labels, and prescription labels.
• Assures that the correct medication is filled by using bar code scanning on stock bottles.
• Supports automation by manually completing prescriptions not processed through the automation dispensing machine.

Window Pick-Up

• Verifies the patient's identification following the facility's policies (i.e., double patient identifiers)
• Verifies that the patient receives the correct prescriptions by using VA software (i.e., ScriptPro barcode scanning)
• Verifies the patient has received all prescriptions (i.e., refrigerated, controlled substances, bulk medications, etc.)

Mail Packaging

• Utilizes and comprehends the mail shipping programs used by the facility for overnight delivery of non-controlled and controlled prescriptions.
• Performs searches, updates patient information, and generates shipping reports as requested by the supervisor.
• Calls patients to arrange delivery of refrigerated prescriptions and verifies patients address.

Work Schedule : Pharmacy core hours of operation are Monday - Friday, 7AM-7PM.

***Schedule will vary to include days, nights, weekends and holidays.

Occasional overtime may be required. Specific schedules will be discussed during interviews.

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Telework : Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 92222A

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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: 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:
  • (1) Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR
  • (2) National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT)

Grade Determinations :

Pharmacy Technician, GS-07.

• (1) Experience. Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
• (2) 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.
• (3) 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.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-07.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service.

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: 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:

Additional information

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.