Chapter 480-15 PHARMACY TECHNICIANS AND OTHER PHARMACY PERSONNEL
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall
apply:
| (a) |
"Board" shall mean the
Georgia State Board of Pharmacy. |
| (b) |
"Certified pharmacy technician" shall
mean a registered pharmacy technician who has either successfully passed a
certification program approved by the Board, or has successfully passed an
employer's training and assessment program approved by the Board, or has been
certified by either the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) or any
other nationally recognized certifying body approved by the Board. |
| (c) |
"Pharmacist" shall mean an individual
currently licensed by this state to engage in the practice of
pharmacy. |
| (d) |
Pharmacist in charge"
means a pharmacist currently licensed in this state who accepts responsibility
for the operation of a pharmacy in conformance with all laws and rules
pertinent to the practice of pharmacy and the distribution of drugs and who is
personally in full and actual charge of such pharmacy and personnel. |
| (e) |
"Pharmacy intern" shall mean an
individual who is a student currently enrolled in an approved school or college
of pharmacy, has registered with the Board, and has been licensed as a pharmacy
intern, or a graduate of an approved school or college of pharmacy who is
currently licensed by the board for the purpose of obtaining practical
experience as a requirement for licensure as a pharmacist, or an individual who
has established educational equivalency by obtaining a Foreign Pharmacy
Graduate Examination Committee (FPGEC) certificate and is currently licensed by
the Board for the purpose of obtaining practical experience as a requirement
for licensure as a pharmacist. |
| (f) |
"Pharmacy extern" shall mean an individual who is a student currently enrolled
in an approved school or college of pharmacy and who has been assigned by the
school or college of pharmacy for the purposes of obtaining practical
experience and completing a degree in pharmacy. |
| (g) |
"Registered Pharmacy technician" shall
mean those support persons registered with the board who are utilized in
pharmacies and whose responsibilities are to provide nonjudgmental technical
services concerned with the preparation for dispensing of drugs under the
direct supervision and responsibility of a pharmacist. |
| (a) |
Effective August 1, 2011, a pharmacy may
only employ registered pharmacy technicians to perform pharmacy technician
duties. |
| (b) |
In order to be
registered as a Pharmacy Technician in this State, an applicant shall:
| (1) |
Submit an application to the Board on the
form prescribed by the Board; |
| (2) |
Attest that applicant is at least 17 years old; |
| (3) |
Attest that applicant is currently
enrolled in high school, or has a high school diploma, or has a GED, or has a
postsecondary education or college degree; |
| (4) |
Consent to, provide the necessary
information to conduct, and pay for a background check to be conducted by the
Board, its agent or a firm or firms approved by the Board, which background
check will include a criminal history, driver license history and other
information as the Board deems necessary, and will authorize the Board and the
Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency to receive the results; |
| (5) |
Submit the name and address of employer
and place of employment; |
| (6) |
Pay
application fees; and |
| (7) |
If
certified, submit evidence of training supporting designation as
certified. |
|
| (c) |
The Board
may deny registration or conditionally grant registration for any of the
reasons set forth in Code sections
26-4-60 or
43-1-19. This includes
convictions, pleas of nolo contendere and guilty pleas related to misdemeanor
crimes of moral turpitude or marijuana and to felonies. In addition, no
pharmacist whose license has been denied, revoked, suspended, or restricted for
disciplinary purposes shall be eligible to be registered as a pharmacy
technician. |
| (d) |
The denial of an
application for registration as a pharmacy technician shall not be a contested
case and the applicant shall not be entitled to a hearing under the Georgia
Administrative Procedures Action, O.C.G.A. T. 50, Ch. 13, but such applicant
may be entitled to an appearance before the Board. |
| (e) |
A registration, once issued, is renewable
biennially, upon payment of a fee. Registrations shall expire on June
30th of each odd-numbered year. If the application
for renewal is not made and the fee paid before September
1st of the odd-numbered year, the registration shall
lapse and shall not be renewed. An application for a new registration shall be
required. |
| (f) |
A registrant has a
responsibility to update the Board with a change of home address and employment
address within ten (10) days of such change. |
| (a) |
In dispensing
drugs, no individual other than a licensed pharmacist, intern or extern working
under direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist shall perform or conduct
those duties or functions which require professional judgment. It shall be the
responsibility of the supervising pharmacist to ensure that no other employee
of the pharmacy, excluding pharmacy interns or externs, performs or conducts
those duties or functions which require professional judgment. |
| (b) |
For all prescription drug orders, it
shall be the responsibility of the Pharmacist on duty at a facility to ensure
that only a pharmacist or a pharmacy intern and/or extern under the direct
supervision of a registered pharmacist provides professional consultation and
counseling with patients or other licensed health care professionals and that
only a pharmacist or a pharmacy intern or an extern under the direct
supervision of a registered pharmacist accepts telephoned oral prescription
drug orders or provides or receives information in any manner relative to
prescriptions or prescription drugs. |
| (c) |
Registered pharmacy technicians and other
pharmacy personnel, i.e. clerks, cashiers, observers, etc., in the prescription
department shall be easily identifiable by use of a name badge or other similar
means which prominently displays their name and the job function in which the
personnel are engaging at that time. Any pharmacy personnel or other person
present in the pharmacy department must be under the direct supervision of a
licensed pharmacist. |
| (d) |
In the
dispensing of all prescription drug orders:
| (1) |
The pharmacist shall be responsible for
all activities of any registered pharmacy technician in the preparation of the
drug for delivery to the patient. |
| (2) |
The pharmacist shall be present and
personally supervising the activities of any registered pharmacy technician at
all times. |
| (3) |
When electronic
systems are employed within the pharmacy, registered pharmacy technicians may
enter information into the system and prepare labels; provided, however, that
it shall be the responsibility of the pharmacist to verify the accuracy if the
information entered and the label produced in conjunction with the prescription
drug order. |
| (4) |
When a prescription
drug order is presented for filling or refilling, it shall be the
responsibility of the pharmacist to review all appropriate information and make
the determination as to whether to fill the prescription drug order,
and |
| (5) |
Any other function deemed
by the Board to require professional judgment. |
|
| (e) |
The pharmacist to registered pharmacy
technician ratio shall not exceed one pharmacist providing direct supervision
of three registered pharmacy technicians. One of the three technicians must:
| (1) |
Have successfully passed a certification
program approved by the Board of Pharmacy; |
| (2) |
Have successfully passed an employer's
training and assessment program which has been approved by the Board of
Pharmacy; or |
| (3) |
Have been
certified by the Pharmacy technician Certification Board. |
|
| (f) |
In addition to the utilization of three
(3) registered pharmacy technicians, if one is certified, a pharmacist may be
assisted by and directly supervise at the same time one (1) pharmacy intern, as
well as one (1) pharmacy extern, and one (1) pharmacy observer. |
| (g) |
The board may consider and approve an
application to increase the ratio in a pharmacy located in a licensed hospital.
Such application must be made in writing and may be submitted to the Board by
the pharmacist in charge of a specific hospital pharmacy in this
state. |
| (h) |
No completed
prescription drug order shall be given to the patient requesting same unless
the contents and the label thereof shall have been verified by a registered
pharmacist. |
| (i) |
The Board of
Pharmacy may revoke or suspend the registration of a pharmacy technician for
any of the grounds set forth in O.C.G.A. Sections
43-1-19 or 26-40-60. The
revocation or suspension of the registration of a pharmacy technician is not a
contested case under the Georgia Administrative Procedures Act, O.C.G.A.T. 50,
Ch.13, and the technician is not entitled to a hearing, but the technician may
be entitled to an appearance before the Board. |
| (a) |
The Pharmacist
in Charge shall be responsible for:
| (1) |
providing updated information to the Board in accordance with rules and
regulations regarding the registered pharmacy technicians employed in the
pharmacy for purposes maintaining the registry of registered pharmacy
technicians established by the Board pursuant to paragraph (7) of subsection
(a) of Code Section
26-4-28. |
| (2) |
Ensuring the reporting the separation of
employment or termination of any Registered pharmacy technician for any
suspected or confirmed criminal occupational-related activities committed or
any drug-related reason, including but not limited to Adulteration, abuse,
theft or diversion and shall include in the notice the reason for the
termination. |
| (3) |
Assuring that all
pharmacists and pharmacy interns and externs employed at the pharmacy are
currently licensed and that registered pharmacy technicians employed at the
pharmacy are currently registered with the Board of Pharmacy. |
| (4) |
Notifying the Board of any change in the
employment status of all registered technicians in the pharmacy within 10 days
of the technician's separation date from employment, |
| (5) |
Ensuring that registered pharmacy
technicians in the prescription department shall be easily identifiable by use
of a name badge or other similar means which prominently displays their name
and job title. The Pharmacist-in-Charge is responsible for ensuring that such
persons wear or display such identification at all times when they are working
in the prescription department. |
| (6) |
Shall ensure that the current registration for each registered pharmacy
technician is readily accessible for inspection by the Board or Drugs and
Narcotics Agents. |
| (7) |
Ensuring that
a pharmacist is responsible for the dispensing of all prescription drug orders
and for all activities of any pharmacy technician in the preparation of the
drug for delivery to the patient, and that a pharmacist shall be present and
personally supervising the activities of any pharmacy technician at all
times. |
|
| (b) |
The Board of
Pharmacy can take disciplinary action against the license of a pharmacist in
charge who violates the provisions of this rule as authorized by O.C.G.A.
Sections 43-1-19 and
26-4-60. |
| (a) |
In dispensing drugs, no individual other
than a licensed pharmacist shall perform or conduct those duties or functions
which require professional judgment. It shall be the responsibility of the
supervising pharmacist to ensure to that no other employee of the pharmacy,
excluding pharmacy interns or externs but including registered pharmacy
technicians, performs, or conducts those duties or functions which require
professional judgment. The following functions require the professional
judgment of a pharmacist, or a pharmacy intern or extern, under the direct
supervision of a pharmacist, and may not be performed by a registered pharmacy
technician:
| (1) |
Acceptance of telephoned or
other oral prescriptions; |
| (2) |
Transfers of prescription drug orders from another pharmacy or transfers of a
prescription drug order to another pharmacy; |
| (4) |
Receiving information or providing
information about a prescription drug order; |
| (5) |
Making the determination as to whether to
refill the prescription drug order; |
| (6) |
Certification of a filled and finished
prescription drug order; |
| (7) |
Weighing or measuring active ingredients without a mechanism of
verification; |
| (8) |
Compounding of
medication without a mechanism of verification; |
| (9) |
Giving a completed prescription to the
patient requesting same without the label and contents and the label being
verified by a pharmacist. |
| (10) |
Reconstitution of prefabricated medication without a mechanism of
verification; |
| (11) |
Verification of
the constituents of final IV admixtures for accuracy, efficacy, and patient
utilization; |
| (12) |
Enter of order on
patient medication profiles without verification by a pharmacist; |
| (13) |
Provision of drug information that has
not been prepared or approved by the pharmacist; |
| (14) |
Review of the patient record for
therapeutic appropriateness; and |
| (15) |
Any other act prohibited by Board rule,
or law. |
|
| (1) |
Effective June 1, 2016, a pharmacy may
permit pharmacy observers to shadow licensed pharmacists for the limited and
exclusive purpose of education about the practice of pharmacy. |
| (2) |
Requirements. In order to be pharmacy
observer, an individual must:
| (a) |
Be at least
seventeen (17) years old; |
| (b) |
Be
currently enrolled in high school or in general education diploma preparation
courses; and |
| (c) |
Not have been
convicted of a felony and/or any offense that was related to drugs and have an
attestation by the principal of his/her school or parent or guardian stating
that the observer has neither been convicted of a felony or any offense that
was related to drugs. |
|
| (3) |
Limitation of Duties. A pharmacy observer shall not perform any duties that
require licensure as a pharmacist or pharmacy intern or registration as a
pharmacy technician under the Georgia Pharmacy Practice Act (O.C.G.A. Title 26,
Chapter 4) or the Rules of the Georgia Board of Pharmacy. It shall be the
responsibility of the supervising pharmacist and the pharmacist-in-charge to
ensure that no pharmacy observer performs or conducts those duties or functions
that require licensure or registration under Georgia law or rules. |
| (4) |
Restriction of Access. A pharmacy
observer shall not be present in the pharmacy for more than eight (8) hours per
day and in no circumstance for more than forty (40) hours. |
| (5) |
Requirement of Direct Supervision. The
supervising pharmacist shall be present and personally supervise the pharmacy
observer at all times that the observer is in the pharmacy. The pharmacist to
pharmacy observer ratio shall not exceed one pharmacist providing direct
supervision of one pharmacy observer. |
| (6) |
Identification of Pharmacy Observers. The
pharmacist-in-charge shall be responsible for ensuring that any pharmacy
observer in the prescription department is easily identifiable by the use of a
name badge or other similar means which prominently displays the observer's
name and job title. The pharmacist-in-charge is responsible for ensuring that
such a person wears or displays such identification at all times when the
person is present in the prescription department. |
| (7) |
Professional Conduct. A pharmacy observer
shall be subject to any confidentiality restrictions under state and/or federal
law or regulation to which other pharmacy employees are subject. The
pharmacist-in-charge shall conduct all training required to ensure that the
pharmacy observer understands and complies with his/her obligations of
confidentiality under state and federal law or regulation. |
