Pharmacy Technician – Inpatient

Summary

The incumbent practices as a Pharmacy Technician in the Inpatient Pharmacy of the New Mexico VA Medical Center. This area serves adult and elderly Veterans needing care within the New Mexico VAMC system 24 hours a day 7 days a week, nights, weekends, and holidays. Provides support for hospital staff by reading and interpreting orders, obtaining proper medication or material in the proper dose and strength.

Duties

• Medication Management Reads and interprets prescriptions, obtains proper medication or material in the proper strength and dosage form, determines proper amount and counts, pours, or measures; affixes proper label; and records required data on Pharmacy’s copy of the prescription order.
• For unit-dose medications, performs final review of medication when prepared by another technician, to be dispensed to inpatient areas (med-carts, ward stock), and/or fills unit-dose carts independently without secondary review when necessary.
• Compounds and/or reconstitutes sterile IV medications.
• This includes completing detailed compounding records, environmental documentation for the compounding area and cleaning records for the compounding area.
• Compounds and/or reconstitutes oral and external medications (non-sterile).
• This includes converting to proper weights and measures the amount of medication or solution to be used.
• Identifies basic therapeutic problems such as duplicate therapy with drugs in the same class and alerts the pharmacist to the possible need for clinical intervention.
• Understands requirements of USP 795, USP 797, USP 800, disposal of hazardous materials, safe medication distribution and electronic prescription processing.
• Inventory Management Inventories and replenishes emergency medication carts and kits with appropriate medications and supplies.
• Conducts ward inspections of assigned medication storage areas in inpatient nursing units, clinical units, Pharmacy storage areas and other assigned areas.
• Maintains, verifies, stocks, and replaces outdates in patient care areas and the areas’ automated dispensing machines.
• Ensures all look alike, sound alike, high alert, refrigerated medications are stored properly according to manufactures recommendations and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) requirement.
• Monitors the inventory needs of inpatient care areas, relays this information to the appropriate Pharmacy personnel.
• This includes placing stock in proper storage areas, rotating stock on shelves and removing/replacing outdated items.
• Monitors refrigerator temperature on a daily basis in pharmacy service.
• Assists with inventory management and ordering of medicines and supplies.
• Pharmacy Automation Provides more advanced troubleshooting and issue reporting for pharmacy automation equipment and other systems.
• Operates and maintains complicated pharmacy automation equipment.
• Provides training on the use of and maintenance of pharmacy automation equipment, as needed.
• Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:00AM – 4:30PM Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
• Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment.
• Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents).
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver’s licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

How You Will Be Evaluated

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate’s abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• CV /
• Resume Professional Certification SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document.
• This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted ‘Resume’ document upload field.
• Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the ‘Other’ document upload field.
• The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position.
• Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50’s (current/former Federal employees), etc. CV /
• Resume Professional Certification
• Resume SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Veterans’ preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.