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Oregon News: Confusion Over Pharmacist Versus Technician Duties
Published in the August 2007 Oregon State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter
An area of confusion over pharmacist and pharmacy technician duties that has recently been brought to the Board’s attention is that of reducing an oral prescription to writing. Despite the widespread use of technological advances in pharmacy practice over the past few years, prescriptions still come to the pharmacy over the telephone. It is comforting to note that, unlike prescriptions arriving via the various electronic systems, no controversy exists around the correct method of processing. However, it appears that some confusion does exist. An oral prescription, including oral prescriptions retrieved via voice mail, must be immediately reduced to writing by a pharmacist. This cannot be delegated to a technician or a clerk, although a pharmacy intern may be allowed to perform this function if he or she has been properly trained and is supervised by a pharmacist. A technician is allowed to receive refill authorization over the phone, including voice mail retrieval, but reducing a new prescription to writing does not fall within the technician’s allowable duties.
Another area of apparent confusion is the pharmacist’s password to access the computer and the pharmacists drug utilization review (DUR) override code. Recent inspections and investigations have revealed a number of technicians who possess the pharmacist’s password or override code. No matter how appropriate, efficient or convenient it may seem for a specific circumstance, a pharmacist should never, under any circumstances, give a password or code to another pharmacy employee. Each pharmacy should have policies and procedures in place that provide guidance to its employees regarding proper use and maintenance of these important tools.
One area related to pharmacist and technician duties comes to mind within which there should be no confusion. This is the area of violations of pharmacy laws and regulations. If a pharmacist shares his or her password or override code with a technician, both the pharmacist and the technician may be considered in violation. If a pharmacist allows a technician to take or reduce to writing an oral prescription, both the pharmacist and the technician are in violation. Both would be subject to possible disciplinary action by the Board.
This article was prepared at the request of the Board following its June 6 meeting in Portland. Both pharmacists and technicians are responsible for their actions, and both have been disciplined for these offenses. The Board simply wants to illustrate the importance it places on the integrity of new prescriptions, and on security and access codes, as well as to ensure no confusion exists around the potential for disciplinary action for what the Board considers deliberate violations. The Board also wants to remind technicians of the importance of knowing the pharmacy laws and regulations and that they could be subject to disciplinary action for deliberate violations. A memo reinforcing this reminder will be sent to all licensed pharmacy technicians with the next renewal cycle.
