Pharmacy technician help?

[crypticase]

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Current pharm tech trainee at CVS, and I'm severely struggling with the job. Because I'm a student and live far from my store, I can only work on weekends, aka the busiest times to work- so training on the job is basically impossible because so many customers come and I'm stuck at pick up. I haven't learned anything about Drop off or inventory yet and I'm so confused about little things like transfers and stuff.
You could say I should find a closer CVS to my school so I can work more ours or pick up hours- pretty much impossible because the closest pharmacy schools are all competing for those jobs.
So basically I'm stuck, and panic at work every weekend because I know nothing.

tl; dr, Can someone tell me about drop off, inventory control, and dealing with other CVS or stores calling about transfers and stuff?

 

[aglo123]

Current pharm tech trainee at CVS, and I'm severely struggling with the job. Because I'm a student and live far from my store, I can only work on weekends, aka the busiest times to work- so training on the job is basically impossible because so many customers come and I'm stuck at pick up. I haven't learned anything about Drop off or inventory yet and I'm so confused about little things like transfers and stuff.
You could say I should find a closer CVS to my school so I can work more ours or pick up hours- pretty much impossible because the closest pharmacy schools are all competing for those jobs.
So basically I'm stuck, and panic at work every weekend because I know nothing.

tl; dr, Can someone tell me about drop off, inventory control, and dealing with other CVS or stores calling about transfers and stuff?

The weekends are usually not the busiest times to work, it's usually mon-weds that are the most busy.

Another tip: I was in your situation around August, lived about 30 mins away from my store while I went to school fulltime...so I shopped around for other CVS's close to where I live. Your current store should be fine with you transferring if you can find a store that needs tech help...Also, stores would much rather have a tech transfer in than hire someone new.

For now, just have fun with pickup, and slowly build your way up...your store won't let you do inventory until you are more experienced.

Drop off is easy, once you get the hang of it, so again just slowly learn when you guys aren't busy and you will become more savvy with time.

 

[crypticase]

The weekends are usually not the busiest times to work, it's usually mon-weds that are the most busy.

Another tip: I was in your situation around August, lived about 30 mins away from my store while I went to school fulltime...so I shopped around for other CVS's close to where I live. Your current store should be fine with you transferring if you can find a store that needs tech help...Also, stores would much rather have a tech transfer in than hire someone new.

For now, just have fun with pickup, and slowly build your way up...your store won't let you do inventory until you are more experienced.

Drop off is easy, once you get the hang of it, so again just slowly learn when you guys aren't busy and you will become more savvy with time.

Actually my store is the busiest during Weekends, and I am trying to find other places to transfer/pick up hours, but it's pretty much impossible at this point xP maybe sometime in the near future
Ah okay, I'll take your word for it! 🙂 It's just tough when your coworkers always seem to be having a field day watching you struggle lol, but yeah I'm gonna take my time to learn

 

[rxphd]

I'm currently in training at CVS as well, however, I have been a tech for 10 years with 6 years if it being at Walmart. CVS's system is very difficult compared to theirs and even I'm finding it difficult to learn their system going from one that is sooooo simple to theirs. I would have thought they would have an easier system for the amount of scripts they do. I'm actually looking to go back to walmart just because their system makes the job so much easier

 

[useruseruser]

maybe talk to your district manager to see if they are aware of any stores needing help. if not, then your best bet would probably just be to directly call other CVS stores and talk to a staff pharmacist to see if they need any extra help

and yeah like someone said earlier, M-F are the busiest usually, but I guess your store could be an exception. Have you done the online modules for drop off? They explain the gist of it. It's just typing up scripts and insurance card info really.

I haven't worked at CVS too long but here's what I learned I guess. lol. ID #'s on insurance cards are usually 9 characters. If it's more than 9 characters, you may need to omit the letters in front or numbers at the end (sometimes person codes will be affixed to the end of the ID #'s). Person code 01 = primary cardholder. 02 = spouse. 03 = eldest child. 04= second child. and so fourth. You can also hit F4 directly on the claim rejection screen to edit the insurance info that was billed rather than hitting E (for edit) and 11 (for insurance). If it's too soon to refill, hit S for schedule. If it's a PA (prior authorization) rejection, sometimes there's a PA button you can hit to e-fax the doctor (if not, you'll have to print the screenshot and manually fax). If you bill 2 insurances and the secondary rejects (I forget what it says exactly), there's an "AP" accept previous payer button you can hit to bill the primary insurance. If it's a DUR reject, sometimes you can override it by hitting A (additional information), T1, typing M0 in #7, 1B in #8, and 2 in #10 (line 1). If it's a worker's compensation, the patient needs to fill out a form about the injury and company and you need to be sure to bill it as a worker's compensation (it'll say "WC" somewhere). Also if you're typing and you're having trouble finding the drug/strength, it might be easier just to type in the brand name. If you're unsure about generic/brand, hit F3 (Drugs) button. Also if you're typing a script that has been transferred in from another competitor (e.g. Walgreens, Costco), then you'll need to hit "TI" for transfer in from the patient's profile (rather than the spacebar for new script). It'll pop up a screen for you to fill in info about the competitor and pharmacist who transferred it. Remember you can only transfer IN prescriptions to your pharmacy (i.e. bring in more business). If a patient comes up and says he/she wants to transfer their prescriptions to Walgreens, then they need to tell Walgreens and have them call your store.