How to Improve Your Accuracy as a Pharmacy Technician
As a pharmacy technician, you’ll have many important responsibilities to help pharmacists and customers. You will deal directly with patients, stock shelves, process prescriptions, and more. And since your job involves people’s medications, it’s really important that you do your job well and accurately.
Here’s how to improve your accuracy as a pharmacy technician:
Limit Distractions to Focus on the Job
Do your best to come to work prepared to have a good day and focus on work. That means that you:
- Leave personal issues at home.
- Turn your phone off, or leave it in your purse or a personal space — not in your pocket where you’ll be tempted to scroll social media or text friends.
- Get plenty of sleep. If you are well rested, you’ll be better able to focus on your work.
- Eat enough food. Food is fuel for your body and your brain.
- Keep your work area — like the customer counter and other areas in the pharmacy — clean and free of clutter.
Clearly and Properly Stock Medication
As a pharmacy tech, you probably check medicine inventory, order it and stock it. This means it’s your responsibility to keep shelves clearly marked, organized and stocked with the correct medication. If you do this, it will help ensure that you don’t grab the wrong medication when you fill a prescription.
Make Sure You Understand Prescription Orders
Follow the instructions of the pharmacist and prescription orders to the letter. For hand-written prescriptions, make sure you understand exactly what the doctor is prescribing. If the prescription is unclear in any way, get clarification before you fill it. You may even need to call the doctor to get verbal confirmation of what you should fill.
Get Confident in the Computer System
Pharmacies rely heavily on computer technology. If you want to be good at your job, you’ll need to be good at the computer system used at your company. You need to know exactly how to input customer details, access their insurance and process claims, and complete sales. If you are completely comfortable with how to use the computer system and any other necessary technology, it will be easier for you to avoid mistakes.
Have a Clear Workflow and Verification Process
Since a pharmacy fills prescriptions all day, every day, yours should have a routine in place. If you and your co-workers know exactly what your role is and every step you need to take when a prescription is brought or called in, it will help to prevent errors because you won’t have to decide every time what to do next — the step will be obvious and known to everyone involved.
Repeat Important Information When Necessary
If a doctor’s office calls in a prescription and you have any doubt as to what their request is, double check. Just repeat back to them what you understand that they want. That way they can verify that it’s correct or clarify if it’s not, and you can be confident that you know exactly what the order is for.
Have the Pharmacist Check the Filled Prescriptions
You might fill and package the prescription, but the pharmacist must oversee everything you do. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and get clarification from the pharmacist when you are unsure about something.
If you have great attention to detail and want to help people access the right medication they need, contact Charter College to lean how our Pharmacy Technician program could be right for you.