Can a MA practice under the supervision of a pharmacist?

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? no

First off, there is a difference between pharmacy aide, and pharmacy technician. Therefore, it depends...

Most pharmacy aides receive informal on-the-job training, but employers favor those with at least a high school diploma.


Pharmacy aides help licensed pharmacists with administrative duties in running a pharmacy. They function as clerks or cashiers who primarily answer telephones, handle money, stock shelves, and perform other clerical duties. They work the same hours as pharmacists, and work closely with pharmacy technicians.


Pharmacy technicians usually perform more complex tasks than do assistants, although, in some States, their duties and job titles overlap.


They usually hold a pharmacy technician diploma, or a degree, and are formally trainied in the ins and outs of pharmacy related activities. This includes job specific knowledge and skills such as medical and pharmaceutical terminology, pharmaceutical calculations, pharmacy recordkeeping, pharmaceutical techniques, and pharmacy law and ethics. They also have learned medication names, actions, uses, and doses.

Just like with medical assisting, pharmacy technician certification is mostly voluntary, but may be desired by the employer, or even mandatory to get hired into certain positions. However, ultimately, it is each state's practice act that mandates / determines training and education requirements of pharmacy technicians.

Once hired, pharmacy technicians work under the direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist and is accountable to the supervising pharmacist, who is legally responsible by virtue of state licensure for the care and safety of patients served by the pharmacy.


Source
www.bls.gov

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Site Admin

Did you catch last week's "20/20" where it was revealed that almost ANYBODY can work as a pharmacy aide/tech/assistant,whatever and that they will have kids as young as SIXTEEN filling bottles with pills? I was so disgusted when I saw that. What is wrong with people?! I was thinking that this could be a prime job that could,SHOULD be advertised as being ideal for a trained,certified medical assistant. So why isn't it? The pay couldn't be that much less than what a lot make anyhow. I guess they would rather take the chance of injury or death with a young,pretty thing than with someone who actually knows a lot about medications.

I worked as pharmacy tech after high school while I was in college for 3 years. Yes I counted pills, but you also set the bottle next to the prescription bottle for the pharmacist to double check. Don't think for a second techs count the pills, put the label on it, and it goes right to the patient. No way.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: LPN

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes

Guess you didn't see the program then. It showed several incidents where a pharmacist neglected to check a prescription before it went out and either it was the wrong drug,or the strength was too high (and they were typed out and labeled BY the tech). They also showed a hidden camera at many stores where they had someone getting a prescription for coumadin along with a big bottle of aspirin and the majority of the techs didn't say a word about an interaction. Sorry,but I don't want a teen filling my medications on a day that the pharmacist is swamped with other prescriptions.

Ok, I guess I did not make my question clear, so I will try again. Can medical asst. practice and do all of the duties of a medical asst. under the direction of a pharmacist. I know about pharmacy aids, clerks, and techs. I was not asking about them.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? no

I wouldn't think so. A pharmacy liscence is different from a medical liscence, but I really don't know.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: LPN

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes

The rule of thumb is that medical assistants can work under the direct supervision of a number of different LICENSED healthcare providers, such as medical doctors, surgeons, Licensed Practical Nurses, Chiropractors, and in this case Pharmacists, if he trains and supervises the medical assistant directly.

Search the Internet for key phrase "superior respondeat" doctrine....

and also, visit
http://www.certmedassistant.com/malprac_insur.htm and http://www.certmedassistant.com/empl_policy.htm for answers.

Danni

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Site Admin

"Did you catch last week's "20/20" where it was revealed that almost ANYBODY can work as a pharmacy aide/tech/assistant,whatever and that they will have kids as young as SIXTEEN filling bottles with pills?"

This shocks me. My cousin worked as a Pharm tech when she was getting her BS while working on getting into pharm school. She had no other training, but she said since she "knew people" she got out of doing the training but every one else has to go through training. A girl I went to highschool use to work in the pharm I use and she told me she was TRAINING to be a pharm tech....

hearts, what is the big deal about any body beign ablet to be a pharmacy aid or clerk and in some states a tech. any one can be a medical asst. with out any training and MA's are allowed to administer drugs. I am a CMA but I know many that just started working with a Dr. and the nuumber of errors is way more then in the pharmacy.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? no

Chuckie. Did you see th quotation marks around the first paragraph? I was quoting some one else and commenting on it. I was just shocked because as far as I knew it was required for some form if training thats all.

Chuckie-I have two questions for you: 1. Did you ask your original question because you are interested in working in a pharmacy? and 2. Are you sounding a little bitter over seeing untrained people get the job as a medical assistant? I knew that went on but I am learning that it is more common than I thought. What I didn't know was that they will hire teens to work in pharmacies and a lot have no training,or at least not enough and yes,they are filling bottles with medicines. All the trained and certified unemployed medical assistants there are out there and this kind of outrageousness continues. Why not just get those coming out of halfway houses to put in these jobs,or better yet,round up some alcoholic homeless people and put them to work. And if THIS sounds bitter, it is meant to.