Hospital Pharmacy Technicians...

[appleciousrx03]

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Hey everyone! I was just wanted to hear from all the hospital pharmacy technicians about their positions. Do you like it more than retail? What do you dislike about it? I have a job interview coming up and I have never worked in a hospital pharmacy before, just retail. I really like my current position, but I would like to get a feel of what it's like in the hospital too. If you can relay any tips I would greatly appreciate it, especially on the interview process as I am new on that too. I've never interviewed for this kind of position before so it would help if you can give me an insight on what to expect. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[rougemarie]

Hey everyone! I was just wanted to hear from all the hospital pharmacy technicians about their positions. Do you like it more than retail? What do you dislike about it? I have a job interview coming up and I have never worked in a hospital pharmacy before, just retail. I really like my current position, but I would like to get a feel of what it's like in the hospital too. If you can relay any tips I would greatly appreciate it, especially on the interview process as I am new on that too. I've never interviewed for this kind of position before so it would help if you can give me an insight on what to expect. Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello, wanna trade job? 😀 I'm looking for a retail position right now.

I was volunteering at local hospital pharmacy dept. and I can only say from my experience: if you like physical tasks, then you'll be good at working as a hospital tech. What they do is load and unload medications (i.e. tons of IV, and these are heavy boxes, each weighing roughly about 20-30 lbs), mixing medication in IV, also stocking medications on each floor/dept. in the hospital (this is also physically demanding since you have to load/unload IV bags, and haul all of them around). Also, you'll be on your feet walking around most of the time for 12-hour shifts (so you may want to check your hospital to see what are the shifts, etc.) Usually, the male techs are a lot of help, but if you were alone on your shift and the only one available, you are expected to do it by your own.

However, I'd say it's much more interesting than retail since you get to mix your IV, prep other medications, etc. I got to speak to many nurses and doctors (but very rarely patients..). But as I said, it's quite physically demanding. Night shifts are slower, usually, but again, it depends on the day. Other than that, I think it's pretty much the same as retail pharm: taking order, filing order, sorting medication, etc. etc.

By all means your experience will be different in each hospital so perhaps someone else may fill in more info for you. Any other questions let me know & best of luck to you!! 🙂

 

[danyoung2003200]

like rougemarie said, it depends on the hospital you work at. Our hospital has the Pyxis system so we don't have to haul much stuff at all. We have to fill the unit dose carts, prep IVs, ER scripts. Overall, I love working in the hospital. I worked at retail when I started college and didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I do at the hospital. We have three 8 hour shifts and the workload is pretty much balanced between the 3. I love it. Just ask in your interview how the shifts are and if they use pyxis or any other med dispensing system.
Good Luck

 

[rougemarie]

like rougemarie said, it depends on the hospital you work at. Our hospital has the Pyxis system so we don't have to haul much stuff at all. We have to fill the unit dose carts, prep IVs, ER scripts. Overall, I love working in the hospital. I worked at retail when I started college and didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I do at the hospital. We have three 8 hour shifts and the workload is pretty much balanced between the 3. I love it. Just ask in your interview how the shifts are and if they use pyxis or any other med dispensing system.
Good Luck

oh, of course, I forgot to mention the Pyxis machines.. our hospital just adopt it when I left, but there weren't the large compartments for IVs yet. I believed we did have the smaller comparments for pills, vials, etc. and I bet it will tremendously simplify things when they eventually have comparments for IVs. We used to deliver IV individually everytime there's an order, including the IV pumps too.

 

[appleciousrx03]

Thanks a bunch for responding! When you interviewed for the position at the hospital, what are some of the type of questions that they asked you? I have never interviewed for such a clinical position so I am clueless where to start. I've read up on the hospital and I know about the career. I know every hospital is different but any advice would help me a lot. Thanks again for your kindness in helping me out.

 

[rougemarie]

Thanks a bunch for responding! When you interviewed for the position at the hospital, what are some of the type of questions that they asked you? I have never interviewed for such a clinical position so I am clueless where to start. I've read up on the hospital and I know about the career. I know every hospital is different but any advice would help me a lot. Thanks again for your kindness in helping me out.

As I said earlier on my post, I came in as a volunteer, so they didn't interview me at all (who would send away free help, eh? 😀 ) I suggest that you start getting to know some of the techs in the hospital & ask them casually. Perhaps you can also come in as a volunteer first or maybe someone else here will help? My best wishes to you 👍

 

[danyoung2003200]

Oh I forgot we also have a tube system so we only had to make 2 rounds each shift. As for the question I was asked, there weren't that many. I was asked why I wanted to work there and my answer was of course to get experience before applying, I think this was a big boost in me getting the job, as there are 3 current pharmacists who came back after pharmacy school and became full time pharmacists there. The interview was very laid back, I had a tour of all the pharmacy areas. The pharmacy tech at the hospital I work at is considered non-clinical and as such we have limited patient contact. We have to visit the rooms of patients on TPN to determine bag due dates and such. Overall, working in the hospital pharmacy is a great experience. I think you become a lot closer with your co-workers and there is a real sense of being part of a team, more than in my retail experience.
If you have any other questions just PM me, I would be more than welcome t help in any way.

 

[kristakoch]

One of the best things about hospital work, in my opinion, is NO INSURANCE claims. Unlike retail where you have to be constantly on the phone with medicaid, medicare, ect....the billing dept of the hospital deals with all of that! It is wonderful to not even really have to think about any of that while you are doing orders 🙂

 

[trishias]

I work in a hospital and I love it. Its the reason why I chose to pursue pharmacy as a career. However, I really dislike sticking myself with needles and cutting up my hands on glass, like I did today. I dont do it often, but I was making a latex-free dilaudid PCA (patient controlled analgesia). I only make the latex free ones because we have a clean room that batches PCA's, antibiotics, labor epidurals, etc. So needless to say I hate when I have to do latex free items because they are a pain in my a**, too bad that the patient actually does have a latex allergy(anaphylactic). I just ranting because my hand still hurts and is bleeding and my bf didnt kiss it to make it better. 😉

Other than the cuts and the sticks, I like what I do and u get learn more.

 

[appleciousrx03]

kristakoch and trishias, do you guys have any interview tips for me?

 

[kristakoch]

kristakoch and trishias, do you guys have any interview tips for me?

I wish I could help you there, but I got the internship from doing my hospital rotation there last summer. Basically they let me stay on for holiday breaks and be an intern for this last year.

But I have a feeling they will ask the usuals....describe a time when you had a problem and how you solved it, etc. I highly dooubt they would ask you any technical questions other than can you do IV's, etc. After hire they will make you do some type of IV, etc practical test (every tech and pharmacist at my hospital has to do that).

Hope this helps 🙂

 

[appleciousrx03]

I wish I could help you there, but I got the internship from doing my hospital rotation there last summer. Basically they let me stay on for holiday breaks and be an intern for this last year.

But I have a feeling they will ask the usuals....describe a time when you had a problem and how you solved it, etc. I highly dooubt they would ask you any technical questions other than can you do IV's, etc. After hire they will make you do some type of IV, etc practical test (every tech and pharmacist at my hospital has to do that).

Hope this helps 🙂

What kind of test? I've never really worked in a hospital before, therefore i don't really have any experience with IV's. What should I expect on this kind of exam? Thanks for all your input, I really appreciate it.

 

[kwakster928]

hey there, i just want to step in here and share the info a little here since i practically live there.

hospital pharmacy tech job can be varied quite significantly among hospitals. it is all depends on what system the hospital pharmacy decided to adopt, size of the hospital, and also whether it is a general or speciality hospital (one that i work at). it is a lot easier to do hands on tasks at the smaller or the specialty hospital (around 100 ~ 150 beds) if you work in the hospital that has more than 200 beds, chances are you have pyxis and/or tube system placed already. so..

at large hospital, if you are just starting, chances are you wont be able to be in the IV room. since JACHO mandated a new regulations regarding IV drug prepartions, so chances are you will be filling pt bins loading and unloading drugs and IVs. you will have to do that for couple month until you develope some skills with drugs and move up in the ranks to prepare IVs, and even further chemos. i hardly doubt that you spend a lot of time walking around the units picking up orders or dropping meds. you will be most siturated in the pharmacy.

at smaller hospital, it is most likely that they do not have pyxis system set in place. but can be done, but when you are talking about 100 beds or less, pyxis is just not cost effective. so chances are you will be doing runs every hour to pick up orders and drop meds. it is more likely that you will be trained quickly since you will have to a lot of multiple tasks at once. there is no set structured IV person, everyone does whatever to get the things done.

hospital are a lot more interesting in my opinion and will learn a lot more. since you are dealing with almost all form of dosage forms. in retail, you wont see IV meds, PCA, PCEA, TPNs, pretty color chemo drugs etc. if you are looking for a learning experience, i would def chose the hospital but if you are a people person and like the interaction chose retail. although you will talk to physicians and nurses, chances are all the intereting questions will be forward to either the interns or the pharmacist. e-mail me if you have any more questions. good luck.

 

[kwakster928]

What kind of test? I've never really worked in a hospital before, therefore i don't really have any experience with IV's. What should I expect on this kind of exam? Thanks for all your input, I really appreciate it.

they will train you on how to dispense in unit dose (not a rocket science), and you have to be familier with the dispencing system they have set up. plus you have to know the drug names. you wont get test on this but you wont be able to do bin fills by yourself unlesss some managament person clears you from doing so.

making IV and chemo is whole different story. you cannot just go into the IV room and start pumping drugs into the bag. you have to learn aseptic technique, under the hood. you will have to be trained and also you are not allow to make IV drugs by yourself until you pass the test. each training usually last about a month, but it varies from hosptial pharmacy standards. making chemo is probably the hardest tasks you will do since it requires a speical type of technique (we call it negative pressure technique) where you cannot inject any of air to the vials to draw up the contents of the drug. this requries a lot of practice. also you will have to pass the pharmaceutical calculation test, since you will have to convert stuff. mg, mEq, mMol, you get the picture.

also you have to pass all the tests that HR department throws at you. i had to do HIPAA course and have to pass the test.

 

[trishias]

they will train you on how to dispense in unit dose (not a rocket science), and you have to be familier with the dispencing system they have set up. plus you have to know the drug names. you wont get test on this but you wont be able to do bin fills by yourself unlesss some managament person clears you from doing so.

making IV and chemo is whole different story. you cannot just go into the IV room and start pumping drugs into the bag. you have to learn aseptic technique, under the hood. you will have to be trained and also you are not allow to make IV drugs by yourself until you pass the test. each training usually last about a month, but it varies from hosptial pharmacy standards. making chemo is probably the hardest tasks you will do since it requires a speical type of technique (we call it negative pressure technique) where you cannot inject any of air to the vials to draw up the contents of the drug. this requries a lot of practice. also you will have to pass the pharmaceutical calculation test, since you will have to convert stuff. mg, mEq, mMol, you get the picture.

also you have to pass all the tests that HR department throws at you. i had to do HIPAA course and have to pass the test.

At our hospital, u get thrown right into the action. First, we are trained on po's (oral medications). We have 5 satellite pharmacies, each specialized for the units they are responsible for. I work in the pharmacy for the women's hospital, where we prepare drugs for women in labor and postpartum as well as antepartum, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), OB/GYN which includes chemo patients and the psych wards. Our phamacy used to be a lot busier because we also filled discharge prescriptions for those having outpatient surgery, including plastic surgeries.

I came in as an intern through the hospital explorers program and I was thrown right into the thick of it. I began filling the meds for the cart for the units, then I was shown aseptic technique and began making IV's. We dont have any tests to prove our competence, although I think we should, because I dont trust some peoples techniques. Only a couple of pharmacies make chemo, my pharmacy included. We watched a tape and were told to be cautious while making it so we wont spill it. That's all the training we received for IV's.

We have "pyxis" machines, but we call them Omnicells. One satelite is responsible for filling all the machines and we make refills as necessary. We also have a tube station, which we use to fill emergent meds, otherwise we make deliveries every 2 hrs to the floors to drop off meds and pick up orders. Hopefully we'll be totally converted to computerized physician order entry by the end of the year, yeeeeaaaahhh!

Hope this is informative. Good luck in your search.

 

[Glycerin]

Hey everyone! I was just wanted to hear from all the hospital pharmacy technicians about their positions. Do you like it more than retail? What do you dislike about it? I have a job interview coming up and I have never worked in a hospital pharmacy before, just retail. I really like my current position, but I would like to get a feel of what it's like in the hospital too. If you can relay any tips I would greatly appreciate it, especially on the interview process as I am new on that too. I've never interviewed for this kind of position before so it would help if you can give me an insight on what to expect. Thanks in advance for your help!

I currently work as a pharmacy technician at a pediatric hospital pharmacy and I love it soooooooooo much better than retail. I love making IVs and walking around to deliver meds and seeing the kids in the hospital, who are usually smiling despite their conditions. At my current job I learned to make chemotherapy, which I did almost every day that I worked last year, and now I do a mixture of maintenance IVs, chemo, and ICU stat meds. There can be a lot of downtime (which isn't always a bad thing, especially if you need to study), but it can be really hectic, too.