PHARMACY TECHNICIAN

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience that may have been gained in hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, or in pharmaceutical firms or laboratories that provided a basic knowledge of: Pharmaceutical nomenclature; Characteristics, strengths, and dosage forms of pharmaceuticals; Pharmaceutical systems of weights and measures; and the variety of procedures and techniques involved in the care, storage, repackaging, bulk compounding, and distribution of pharmaceuticals performing such duties as: (1) verifying accuracy of pharmaceutical labels; (2) utilizing automated pharmacy systems to enter and retrieve data; (3) rotating pharmacy stock; and (4) compounding medications within a pharmacy.

This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-05). Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) is preferred but not required. Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

Perform a variety of complex technical functions to interpret, order, receive, store, and dispense pharmaceuticals from routine to complex controlled substances.,Process medication orders by using computerized order entry.,Answer routine questions concerning proper use, dosage, administration, drug interaction, and side effects of medications.,Perform substantial bulk compounding, including complex products.,Perform complex assessment of compound products utilizing test equipment adjusting to proper concentrations in solutions and visual inspections.,Prepare, store, and issue sterile and non-sterile drug preparations following established guidelines,Keeps accurate records for each controlled item stocked and maintains inventory.,Use computer system for data collections and monitoring to include individualized medication profiles, prescription fill data, provide medical information, and identify potential drug interactions and substitutions or generic drug replacement.