duties of new inpatient pharmacy tech?

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pharmcat33

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hey guys,

i just got a job as an inpatient pharmacy tech and ill be starting on monday. I worked in the retail setting for 2 years before this job, and i know the settings will be a lot different, but what are some of the things i can expect to do on a daily basis in the inpatient setting? will i just be delivering medication? do in patient techs type prescriptions? how does it work? also what kind of calculations will I be doing, are they hard or can someone give me an example of what to expect? are they just like simple dosing conversions? if anyoen can tell me what they do on a daily basis in the inpatient setting that would be great, thanks!

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It depends on your hospital really. I work for the county hospital and we split the tasks, meaning, you will be focusing on one aspect of inpatient pharmacy throughout your shift that day. It's different than retail because you wear many hats, here you only wear one or maybe two if you have time to help. Be sure to bring a small notepad and list out the daily tasks, ask questions and be open!

When I first started, I started as a delivery tech. Basically you work in the unit dose area and the labels print out. Then. you "fill" or match the label with the appropriate drug and it's dosage (e.g. if it's Amoxicillin 500mg capsules but the dose is 1000mg or 1gm, you dispense two capsules). Depending on the size of the hospital and the amount of patients there on a given day, the amount of labels may vary. Then after the pharmacist or pharmacy tech(usually a senior tech) verifies the medications, you go to the IV room and pull any ready prepared IV bags, then you go out and deliver them to the medication rooms or medication cassettes. It's not hard but the one thing is time, since the meds have to be delivered at a certain time. Delivery techs may also compound some meds but at my place, we usually have them compounded already and stored, all we do is make a label, verify the barcode is working and then use a syringe to draw the medicine (this is for orally compounded medicine)

The other positions are Pyxis tech (basically a drug vending machine within a nursing unit) and their responsibility is to fill the pyxis units up to their maximum level. Usually there's a building or floor you have to refill and during the shift, you fill the meds downstairs first then after verification you go up and refill each unit. You also pull any "returned" medicines and note narcotics. There's also IV but I haven't seen anyone start off as IV unless they have experience. That one requires the most training and calculations. There's also a "unit dose" tech, basically the lead tech that coordinates the delivery people and answers phone calls amongst other tasks. It's the most similar to the retail setting as you do many tasks.

Oh and to answer your other questions:
- You don't type prescriptions, at least if you work in a hospital with an electronic MR like EPIC or something. Dr's, PAs and NPs will type it and then the pharmacist verifies their orders in their queue.
- Unlike retail, hospital drug formularies are already set, so if you don't have a drug with a certain strength, it will be calculated to that proper dosage such as the amox example from above.
- Hardest calculations asides from IV (I haven't worked as one so I don't know much about it) is orally compounded medicine and Pedi-Pods. They will teach you so don't worry. Know how to read the basics like concentrations, mcg to mg etc.
- I find inpatient alot less stressful since you can focus on your tasks more and there's a wealth of information. Just be open to learn new things from everyone, even if you may know it already. Also, there is almost zero patient interaction. You are serving the doctors and nurses so it is a different perspective all together.

Hope this helps and good luck Monday!
 
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