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Pharmacy technicians support the work of pharmacists and other health professionals by performing a variety of pharmacy-related functions, including dispensing prescription drugs and other medical devices to patients and instructing them on their use. They may also perform administrative duties in pharmaceutical practices, such as reviewing prescription requests with doctor’s offices and insurance companies to ensure the correct medications are dispensed and paid for.
The law requires supervision of certain pharmacy technician activities by a pharmacist. Most pharmacy technicians work in community pharmacies. In hospital pharmacies, pharmacy technicians may be supervised by other senior pharmacy technicians. In the UK the role of PHTs in hospital pharmacy has increased and they have been tasked with managing pharmacy departments and specialist areas of pharmacy practice to allow pharmacists time to specialize in their specialist areas as medicines spend more time working with consultants. In patients and research. Pharmacy technicians are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). GPhCs are pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises regulators.
In the United States, pharmacy technicians perform their duties under the supervision of pharmacists. Although they may perform most of the dispensing, compounding, and other tasks under supervision, they are generally not allowed to play the role of advising patients on the proper use of their medications. Pharmacist-to-pharmacy technician ratios are legally mandated in some states.
