Pharmacy Technician (Controlled Substances)

Veterans Health Administration; Marion (IN); On-site; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

The Veterans Health Administration is seeking a Pharmacy Technician, Controlled Substances to manage first-line control of all controlled substances within the pharmacy.

The role emphasizes accountability, safety, and compliance with DEA regulations, with opportunities to train staff and coordinate high-level workflow in a specialized area of pharmacy. Applicants must meet federal certification and experience requirements.

Qualifications

• One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
• United States Citizenship required; non-citizens may be considered only per policy.
• Active national certification (PTCB/CPhT or NHA ExCPT) required for higher grade levels.

Responsibilities

• Specialized handling of controlled substances with mandated accountability.
• Filling and dispensing controlled substance prescriptions in compliance with DEA regulations.
• Counseling patients and managing automation and workflow in the pharmacy.
• Training and orienting staff on policies and procedures within the specialized area.
• Independently carry out high-complexity tasks related to the specialty area.

Skills

Controlled substances

Training staff

Workflow analysis

Education

PTCB/CPhT or ExCPT certification

Job description

The Pharmacy Technician, Controlled Substances is a certified, highly specialized technician responsible for the first line management of all controlled substances handled by the pharmacy for VANIHCS. Mandated accountability and control of scheduled drugs makes this a particularly sensitive position that is considered critical by all levels of management.

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Experience: Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below. Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT) May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations: Pharmacy Technician, GS-08 Experience: Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below. Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: PTCB as a CPhT. OR NHA as a ExCPT.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs for all GS-08 assignments and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated: Comprehensive knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology and policies in a specialized area or section of pharmacy (such as sterile compounding, controlled substances, automation, clinical pharmacy, contact center, etc.).

Note Specialized Area: Areas within pharmacy that require advanced knowledge, skills and abilities to ensure a high level of accountability for patient safety, quality of care and/or VHA or other regulatory requirements. Examples include, but are not limited to compounding sterile products, controlled substance dispensing, research, automation, clinical informatics, quality assurance, hazardous medication compounding/management, immunizations and clinical pharmacy assignments.

Skill in training and orienting new and existing pharmacy facility employees and students on proper policies and procedures.

Ability to evaluate, analyze and coordinate workflow and work activities within a specialized area or section of the pharmacy.

Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Pharmacy technicians at this level have a higher level of responsibility for specialized areas of pharmacy and are expected to independently carry out assigned tasks of considerable difficulty.

Pharmacy technicians at this grade level may be appointed to one of the following assignments: Pharmacy Technician. Pharmacy technicians in this assignment specialize in areas such as sterile compounding, oncology, controlled substances, medication history review, clinical specialist (anticoagulation, pain, infectious diseases), clinical informatics, automation, immunizations and any other specialized area in the advancement of the profession.

The pharmacy technician will serve as a subject matter expert and key resource in the day-to-day technician duties of the specialized area. The technician will be performing assignments such as compounding sterile products, filling controlled substance prescriptions while maintaining compliance with Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regulations, taking medication histories and counseling patients, managing automation, managing workflow and training and orienting staff in the specialized area.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-08.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or exami