1. CHAPTER 15
COMMUNITY PHARMACY

2. CHAPTER REVIEW Community Pharmacy Regulations Organization
Customer Service
Processing the Prescriptions
Preparing the Prescription
Customer Pick-up
Using a Cash Register
Other Duties
Review

3. COMMUNITY PHARMACY
The practice of providing prescription services to the public.
Almost 2/3 of all prescriptions drugs in the US are dispensed by community pharmacies.
One of the key characteristics of community pharmacy is the close interaction with patients.

4. TYPES OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIES
Independent Pharmacies
individually owned local pharmacies
Food Store Pharmacies
A&P, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Pathmark and others
Chain Pharmacies
CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid and others
Mass Merchandiser Pharmacies
Wal-Mart, Kmart, Costco, Target and others

5. RAPIDLY GROWING ASPECTS OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY
Disease State Management (DSM)
Medication Therapy Management (MTM)
Other Clinical services and Programs

6. DSM One-on-one pharmacist/patient consultation sessions
General medication advice and information
Diabetes education and monitoring
Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) education and monitoring
Anticoagualtion education and monitoring
Weight loss programs
Smoking cessation programs
Cholesterol reductions programs

7. MTM Tailored to provisions of Medicare Part D 5 Core elements
Medication therapy review (MTR)
Personal medication record (PMR)
Medication-related action plan (MAP)
Intervention and/or referral
Documentation and follow-up

8. CLINICAL SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
Walk in clinics staffed with nurse practitioners
Treatment for a limited number of conditions such as colds and minor injuries
Pharmacist or nurse vaccination programs
Influenza
Herpes zoster
Pnuemococcal

9. HOW TECHNICIANS HELP WITH PHARMACY CLINICAL SERVICES & PROGRAMS
Coordinating billing
Scheduling appointments
Taking patient information

10. REGULATIONS: FEDERAL REGULATIONS AFFECTING COMMUNITY PHARMACY
Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act (OBRA)
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act (Medicare Part D)
Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (CMEA)

11. REGULATIONS: WHAT STATES REGULATE
Counseling
Pharmacy technician certification
Pharmacist to pharmacy technician ratios
Scope of pharmacy technician practice
Record keeping
Required equipment in a pharmacy and work area requirements
Scope of medication compounding

12. ORGANIZATION
Transaction windows for pick-up and drop-off of prescriptions
Pharmacist counselling area
Drug Storage areas
Tablets and capsules
Syrups and suspensions
Creams, ointments and other topicals
Eye ad ear drops
Rectal and vaginal preparations
Injectibles
Inhalers and nebulized medications
Locked storage for controlled substances
Refrigerated medications

13. ORGANIZATION CONT. Compounding area
sink
Prescription counter for preparing prescriptions
Counting trays
Vials
Labels
Prescription bins or shelves
Completed prescriptions arranged by customer’s last name

14. CUSTOMER SERVICE Presenting in a calm, courteous, professional manner
Listening carefully
Making eye contact
Repeating what the customer said
Calling patients by name
Knowing when to involve the pharmacist
Dealing with customer complaints
Positive responses vs. negative responses

15. PROCESSING PRESCRIPTIONS
Prescription In-Take
Patient drop off
Faxed prescriptions
E-prescriptions or electronically transferred prescriptions
Telephone prescription orders

16. ENTERING PATIENT PROFILE INFORMATION
Patient name
Date of birth
Current address
Telephone numbers
Allergy information
Insurance information

17. ENTERING PRESCRIPTION INFORMATION
Correct drug and strength
Drug quantity
Directions for use (the sig)
Number of refills
Dispense as Written (DAW) code
Physician name, address, phone, and DEA number

18. PROCESSING REFILL PRESCRIPTIONS
The prescription number
Availability of refills
Timeliness for refill

19. Filing Hard Copy Prescriptions
By prescription number
By class
General prescriptions (non-controlled substances)
Class III, IV, V controlled substances
Class II controlled substances

20. PREPARING PRESCRIPTIONS FOR DISPENSING
Generating a label
Retrieving the correct medication from stock
Counting or measuring
Using counting trays
Automated filling and measuring devices
Selecting a container
Safety caps
Easy open caps
Affixing the prescription label and auxiliary labels

21. PHARMACIST FINAL CHECK
The final step of the prescription filling process before the prescription is bagged for patient pick up

22. CUSTOMER PICK-UP
Alphabetized prescription bins
Signature logs

23. USING A CASH REGISTER Scanning a price Handling payments Cash Checks
Credit cards
Gift cards
Coupons

24. ORDERING STOCK Transmitting drug orders to a drug wholesaler
Receiving drug orders from a drug wholesaler

25. OTHER GENERAL DUTIES OF A PHARMACY TECHNICIAN
Assisting customers with where to find over-the-counter products
Keeping the pharmacy clean, neat and in working order
Cleaning counting trays and countertops
Keeping disposable supplies stocked
Bags, vials and bottles, labels, paper, cash register receipts
Facing stock bottles
Pulling soon to expire stock from shelves

26. SEPARATION OF TRASH Regular trash
Trash containing protected health information
Shredding or sending out for shredding