a day in the life of a pharmacy tech - Part I

As mentioned in an earlier post, I thought I could give more of a description of what I actually do as a pharmacy technician. When I started writing I soon realized it was going to get lengthy, so I decided to split it up in 3 different installments. This post will explain what I do when I'm working in the front of the pharmacy.

Since I work in an inpatient hospital pharmacy, some things are different than in a retail setting. I've never worked in a retail pharmacy, nor do I ever want to! Our pharmacy is located on the ground floor and has only one window which looks out to an interior hallway. I miss not being able to see outside but we're usually busy enough I don't have time to think about it. During the busiest part of the day, there's 20 - 25 people working, and the pharmacy is not all that big in size! Some of those people are working in offices attached to the main pharmacy, and other pharmacists are deployed to nursing floors. The techs who work in the front make all the deliveries and do a lot of walking. Some of the deliveries we make are chemo to the cancer center, epidurals to the birthing center, and morphine to the NICU babies who are withdrawing from drugs because their mothers used drugs while they were pregnant. We also make rounds 6 - 8 times a day delivering IV medications and antibiotics to the nursing floors. The hospital has a tube system much like the ones drive-up banks have. We can send things from the pharmacy to any part of the hospital but there are certain things that can't be tubed, like narcotics, which have to be delivered by a person. If the tube system goes down, you can spend all your time walking around the hospital delivering items.

pneumatic tube system

While we are in the pharmacy, we are responsible for answering phones, which are usually ringing constantly. Sometimes you may have 5 different phone calls you are working on, so being a multi-tasker is a must! In the morning we work on pulling meds for the Pyxis refill lists. Most nursing units have 2 med rooms with a Pyxis machine that has drawers and pockets for storing meds. After we pull the drugs and a pharmacist checks them, one of the technicians working in the front takes out the refills to the various med stations. When filling the Pyxis, you enter the beginning count of the medication, how many you are filling, and the expiration date. If you are filling a narcotic, you have to be especially careful that the count is correct or it will create a discrepancy.

Pyxis Med Station

During the day, there's usually around 4 techs working in the front. On second shift and during the weekend, there's only one. If it's a busy night or weekend, it can get a little overwhelming. Still, I'd much rather be swamped than sitting around twiddling my thumbs! My favorite part of working in the front is being able to get out and around. Since I worked on two different nursing floors before coming to the pharmacy, it's nice to go back and see nurses I worked with. I miss being with the nurses and hearing stories about patients, but I like the work I do now much better.