CLINICAL PHARMACY TECHNICIAN

Job Description

Job Description

POSITION SUMMARY

The Clinical Pharmacy Technician at Christ Community Health Services will serve as a liaison between patients, clinical pharmacists, and clinic staff. Under the supervision of a clinical pharmacist, the Clinical Pharmacy Technician will support CCHS clinics by performing medication reconciliation, providing non-urgent patient triage prior to handing a patient off to a provider, nurse, or clinical pharmacist. The Clinical Pharmacy Technician will also be responsible for managing medication room and code cart inventory. In addition to providing clinical support, the Clinical Pharmacy Technician will assist with general pharmacy workflow (i.e., entering prescriptions, and counting and dispensing medications) when necessary.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical Pharmacy Workflow:

1. Provide patient education and clinical services while under the supervision of a clinical pharmacist
2. Assist the clinical pharmacist with patient scheduling
3. Travel with the clinical pharmacist to CCHS clinics
4. Participate in quality improvement initiatives and regulatory compliance activities
5. Assist uninsured and / or under insured patients in obtaining prescription financial aid or patient assistance for costly medications

Medication Reconciliation:

1. Accurately obtain a comprehensive list of medications a patient is taking and other relevant information prior to presentation
2. Compare patient’s medication list with medications newly prescribed by providers to identify any redundancies or danger of drug interactions
3. Clearly communicate discrepancies and observations identified via the medication reconciliation process with medications, allergies, or other clinical information to nurses, providers, and pharmacists as appropriate for resolution
4. Accurately document pertinent information into the patient’s electronic health record in an efficient and timely manner to support seamless patient care

Medication Inventory Management:

1. Ensure appropriate amounts of medications and vaccines are ordered, once weekly and monthly, to prevent shortages and overstock in the medication room
2. Enrollment in TennIIs to access Vaccines for Children (VFC) ordering
3. Ensure the code cart (crash cart) is sufficiently stocked at all times
4. Maintain accurate inventory records weekly and monthly as necessary
5. Perform timely inventory reconciliation and clearly address discrepancies with clinic staff

Patient Triage:

1. Provide a compassionate and welcoming experience to patients
2. Provide non-urgent patient triage (i.e., checking blood pressure, checking temperature, etc.) prior to handing patient off to a clinical pharmacist, nurse, or provider
3. Direct the patient’s requests that are outside the scope of a pharmacy technician, to the responsible party when appropriate

Pharmacy Workflow:

1. Accurately enter prescription drug data into pharmacy operating system and dispensing medications
2. Able to resolve all billing issues, such as, insurance claim rejections, prior authorizations, etc. in a timely and efficient manner
3. Assist patients with accessing financial assist for costly medications
4. Assist with inventory management, including ordering medications, restocking shelves, and returning expired medications
5. Processing patient transactions, including ringing up purchases and handling payments

Communication:

1. Treats patients, co-workers, clinic staff, and external customers in a respectful and confidential manner.
2. Able to respond to patients, co-workers, clinic staff, and external customers’ requests in a courteous and timely manner.
3. Integrity:
4. Understands and adheres to patient confidentiality practices and procedures, and will hold themselves accountable to ensuring patient privacy.

Regulatory / Record Compliance:

1. Engages in quality assurance activities to support clinical operations and patient care.
2. Accurately document required information into the electronic health record in an efficient and timely manner to support seamless patient care.

Other Duties as Assigned:

1. Performs other clinical and pharmacy duties as assigned to accommodate reasonable needs of the patients and the department provided duties to meet practice norms and legal regulations/standards

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

Required Experience:

1. High School Diploma or GED
2. Tennessee state Pharmacy Technician licensure in good standing
3. Pharmacy Technician Certification (CPhT) in good standing
4. Minimum of 2 years of work experience within a retail and/or hospital pharmacy setting OR minimum of 1 year as a CCHS pharmacy technician

Desired Experience:

1. Working formal knowledge; equivalent to an Associate’s Degree
2. Preferred Bachelors and/or post graduate degree
3. 5+ years work experience in a retail and/or hospital pharmacy setting

Skills and Abilities:

1. Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs (Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.)
2. Advanced verbal and written communication skills and the ability to present information effectively to clinic staff and patients
3. Proficiency in pharmacy sig codes and in pharmacy calculations
4. Ability to triage, prioritize, and accurately complete work in a timely manner
5. Ability to follow directions and execute tasks as directed

Physical Requirements

Work is performed in a pharmacy and clinic setting. Travel to CCHS clinics is required. Physical demands include being required to walk throughout the clinic, pharmacy, and patient areas for extended periods of time, experiencing long periods of sitting and standing, and frequent use of computer, keyboard, and phone.

INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY

In the event of inclement weather, the Clinical Pharmacy Technician will be expected to provide support to the clinical pharmacist and other clinic staff virtually. Appropriate equipment will be provided in order for tasks such as virtual patient triage, medication reconciliation, clinical pharmacist scheduling, etc. to be performed remotely.