What do you look for in a technician?

[PA_dud3]

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Hello all,

I was just thinking today at work about how I might become a better technician. I guess I'm always trying to improve but I don't really know of anything I've specifically tried to improve at while I'm at work. So I guess what I'm asking is, what do you guys (RPh) look for in a tech at your retail gigs? I feel like I'm the quiet tech, I talk to the pharmacists more than the other techs, but I still don't talk a whole lot. I just try to do my work. If it gets slow I do whatever else I can or look at my phone. I ask a decent bit of questions (about pharmacy, how to do things with the computer, etc), but I try not to annoy anybody. I study my technician book a couple times a week at least just to make sure I'm retaining the bigger things (drug indications, generics, etc.) I don't know. Sorry for the odd question, just kind of curious as to how I might improve.

Thanks for any advice, as usual.

Dd3

 

[wucool33]

Just do whatever your pharmacist asks you to do... show you are not lazy. That’s basically it.

 

[3boooda]

1- do not ask your pharmacist silly questions.
2- do not wait for the pharmacist to tell you what to do.
3- when you pick up the phone try to help the patient before transfer the call to the pharmacist.

 

[PA_dud3]

Yeah, I definitely don't consider myself lazy, we're pretty low volume anyway but I never have to be told to do something (aside from the pharmacist wanting me to ask a patient something specific or call a provider, which is different). Only time I transfer the phone to the pharmacist is if they specifically ask for them or if it's a counseling issue, I usually am able to answer questions about medications and refills though. I like to think I'm pretty proactive, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Igra]

Yeah, I definitely don't consider myself lazy, we're pretty low volume anyway but I never have to be told to do something (aside from the pharmacist wanting me to ask a patient something specific or call a provider, which is different). Only time I transfer the phone to the pharmacist is if they specifically ask for them or if it's a counseling issue, I usually am able to answer questions about medications and refills though. I like to think I'm pretty proactive, but maybe I'm wrong.

I was a retail tech for about 4 years and the amount of help I needed from the pharmacist was usually extremely minimal, always try and qualify your phone calls that ask to speak to the pharmacist with something simple like "May I ask what you're calling about?". Many times it will be something stupid that you could have answered anyways.

Honestly there are tactics as a technician you can use to almost never need to bug a pharmacist with. I like to refer to it similar to it is in law, leading the witness, but you have to be extremely tactful in how you speak. If someone asks which sudafed to use i usually just give them the basic "oh this is the 4-6 hour, this is the 12hr, these all have sudafed with an antihistamine for allergy help" but I never recommend anything. Most of the time the person will just pick there own after that and have no further questions and you didn't provide 'counseling' you just gave information that was already on the package. Like I said though this is about leading them to the answer but not actually giving them the answer.

It also depends on your pharmacist that you work with and what they feel comfortable with doing. I always got a chuckle out of the new grad floaters we would get every once in a while that thought it was a mortal sin for a tech to count c2's, and some might have a problem with what I described above. Assuming you're putting forth a reasonable effort you'll find a good balance and I'm sure your pharmacist will appreciate your work, common sense goes a long way too, but that is often something that can't really be taught.

 

[Sine Cura]

A really good retail tech will, with enough time, recognize all the common insurance rejection scenarios (depends on your location, insurance mix etc) to avoid having to see a rejection in the first place to figure out what to do next. TBH it is pretty dumb to see 40% of your RX go through the same insurance plan and not know that this insurance does not cover X Y Z without having to encounter a claim rejection.

Questions do not annoy me as long as they are asked once. A tech asking the same **** a million times shows no capacity to retain information

 

[6GodPharm]

Not a female with 5 kids from 3 different guys.

 

[John Detter]

The most outstanding technicians I have worked with are able to predict problems over the longer term and proactively try to prevent them. They have a more holistic view of the business and do things that keep the pharmacy running smoothly days, weeks, and months from now. Most techs I work with focus on what they have to get done now in the immediate moment. For example, a typical technician will make sure that Tamiflu gets ordered when they realize inventory is out. Outstanding technicians I've worked with will have the initiative to increase order quantities slightly in the weeks proceeding flu season so that we wouldn't run out to begin with.

Outstanding technicians also make suggestions for improvements and offer a plan. These don't have to be major. Some examples I could give include:

• The "S" waiting bin is always really crowded. Maybe we could reduce the space of the Q bin and shift everything down
• The Sudafed products are not in any type of order. Maybe we can organize them alphabetical, brand/generic, etc.
• Levothyroxine 88 mcg is in the ScriptPro, but based on reports the 75 mcg is dispensed more frequently. Maybe we should switch the two

 

[PA_dud3]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I will definitely try to keep all of this in mind and to apply it as much as possible.

I've been working at my current pharmacy for about a year, so I have a decent level of knowledge with the computers. I know how to resubmit claims to a secondary, how to enter new insurance info (most of the time, still getting better at this), changing price codes, etc. My amount of "Can you help me with this (computer issue)?" has definitely gone way down in the past few months. I still have to ask the occasional question for the trickier ones, but I try to be as proactive as possible, like you all said. I don't do really anything with the inventory, however, I just reorder stock bottles when they run out, etc. Another tech does pretty much all of the future inventory management.

 

[Sabril]

I train and deal with technicians so disastrous and dramatic that they make the jersey shore cast look like ivy-league grads. I would argue that it does not take much to be a "good" tech besides an average level of common sense and work ethic. And I don't know that many people with 5+ years of experience that even fit that description.

Maybe mastering the technical skills, workflow, customer service etc... but I am not sure if being a good tech is big enough of an objective especially for a prepharm.

 

[Sine Cura]

I have had techs go to pharmacy school under my "tutelage" (thought I didn't hire them) and their lack of foresight and proactive problem solving skills isn't encouraging. Then again they did choose to go to pharmacy school.

 

[owlegrad]

Honestly for any half decent employee the bar set for being a good tech is so low you should be able to shuffle over it no problem.

Being super tech is still decently difficult however. “Good tech” is mostly just showing up on time and showing any initiative to get the work done. 🙂

 

[owlegrad]

“If it gets slow I...look at my phone”. OK don’t do this. I personally have never worked at a pharmacy that was so slow that you should have time to look on your phone. There must be something you can do that’s productive in that time.

 

[PA_dud3]

“If it gets slow I...look at my phone”. OK don’t do this. I personally have never worked at a pharmacy that was so slow that you should have time to look on your phone. There must be something you can do that’s productive in that time.

We top out in the low 200's. When I'm on my phone, I make sure there is nothing else I could be doing. I'm on my phone a lot less than the other techs. However, I will try to cut it down some more and try to find additional things to do. Thank you for the advice!