Position Description - Pharmacy technician - Grade 1 Page 1
PHARMACY DEPARTMENT
POSITION DESCRIPTION
POSITION TITLE : Pharmacy Technician
REPORTS TO : Pharmacist in charge, as per rostered area
AWARD/AGREEMENT/CONTRACT Health and Allied Services
POSITION TYPE e.g. Registered Nurse Div 1, Occupational Therapist Gr1, etc.
Pharmacy Technician Grade 1 or 2 or 3 (TF1 or TH6 or TH10)
HOURS PER WEEK : 40
1. ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT
Austin Health is one of Victoria’s largest health care providers.
Comprised of Austin Hospital, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre, Austin Health is a major teaching and research centre with numerous university and research institute affiliations.
Catering to diverse multicultural and veteran communities, Austin Health delivers vital state-wide services to Victorians and a vast array of specialty services to the people of Melbourne’s north-eastern corridor in a safety-focussed, team-orientated and stimulating work environmentAustin Health Values.
Austin Health Values
The Austin Health values play a critical role in shaping how we operate as an organisation. They influence our performance planning, recruitment, training and development, and relationships with colleagues, work mates, our patients and their relatives and friends. The Austin Health values set standard that we expect all staff to live up to in the way they undertake their duties and responsibilities across the Hospital.
Our Values: • Integrity
We work in the spirit of collaboration and honesty to build effective working relationships across the whole organisation.
• Accountability
We are transparent, responsible and build trust by fulfilling promises and communicating effectively.
• Respect
• Excellence
We continually strive to advance patient focused care through innovation, research and effective stakeholder management.
2. LOCAL WORK ENVIRONMENT (Role of the department including any special features
of the workplace and relationships)
The Pharmacy Department Mission Statement is:
“Working together to provide optimum pharmaceutical care”.
Comprehensive pharmacy services are provided at the two main sites of Austin Health - Austin Hospital and Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and also to Royal Talbot
Rehabilitation Centre. Pharmacy staff participate in a co-ordinated work team via a roster system, and they work at different sites (as needed) in order to provide an integrated, high quality service to all pharmacy department customers.
Our philosophy is to foster a learning environment and to promote teamwork as the best method to deliver day to day services, for both our customers and the individual staff members. A priority for all pharmacy staff members must be to use every available opportunity to demonstrate the value of the pharmacy services to our customers. This is a conscious effort to develop and effectively market the pharmacy services, and to target the services offered by achieving a better understanding of the needs of each customer group.
Position Description - Pharmacy technician - Grade 1 Page 3 3. POSITION OBJECTIVE (Primary purpose and key performance objective)
Perform the duties of this position efficiently and to a high standard, including participating in Austin Health performance appraisal program. A pharmacy technician works in all areas of the pharmacy department, in a support role under the direct supervision of a registered pharmacist. Two major work areas are pharmacy drug purchasing/inventory/distribution and the dispensary. Pharmacy technicians are involved at some stage in the dispensing/issuing of prescriptions for Austin Health outpatients and inpatients. Each technician must become familiar with approx. 3-4 of these different roles.
Key customers are: Nurses, patients, other pharmacy staff.
According to the Guidelines of the Pharmacy Board of Victoria, none of the assigned tasks require the exercise of professional pharmaceutical judgement.
4. POSITION REQUIREMENTS (Main duties and other specific requirements, activity and
end result/outcome, regularly performed)
• Abide by Austin Health corporate policies and practices as varied from time to time.
• Participate in Austin Health performance appraisal program as required.
• Undertake not to reveal to any person or entity any confidential information relating to patients and employees, policies, processes and dealings and not to make public statements relating to the affairs of Austin Health without prior authority of the Chief Executive Officer.
• Participate in the emergency incident response activities, as defined within the Emergency Response Manual, as and when required, at the direction of management.
Key responsibilities are:
4.1. Dispensary
To liaise with dispensary pharmacists to provide an excellent service to all customers of the pharmacy dispensary service (including clinical trials). This covers all aspects which enable the timely supply of prescription medicines to patients and timely supply of other medication related requests (requisitions, resus boxes), and general participation in the daily dispensary tasks. Further details are provided in the Dispensary Manual. Outcome Measures:
• Dispensary drug supplies and other resources (containers etc.) are kept fully stocked. • The dispensary work area is maintained in a clean and tidy manner.
• Pharmacy staff who work for more than half a year in the dispensary are expected to participate in one customer satisfactory survey, or customer needs survey each year.
4.2. Drug Distribution
To liaise with the ward pharmacists and relevant ward staff to provide a timely supply of drugs by requisition and/or by imprest supply. Action should be identified and taken to minimise wastage and to minimise occasions of ‘out-of-stock’.
Outcome Measures:
• Each ward to be supplied as per daily checking schedule.
• If stock is not available for issue, then the purchasing officer must be informed immediately.
• Out-of-stock situations in ward imprests are recorded so that meaningful statistics can be generated.
4.3. Pharmaceutical manufacturing and prepacking
To assist in the preparation (or quality assurance) of any non-sterile or sterile product including TPN and cytotoxics dose froms according to the highest quality standards available, as detailed in manufacturing worksheets. To prepare any prepacked items according to approved prepacking worksheets. Further details are provided in the Manufacturing Manuals. N.B. This task requires extra training and validation (provided by Austin Health).
Outcome Measures:
• Successful completion of validation program for manufacture of sterile products. • Successful completion of training program for quality assurance testing of sterile
products.
• Successful completion of validation program for manufacture of cytotoxics.
• Stock lines (resources needed and manufactured items) are maintained between minimum and maximum levels.
4.4. Pharmaceutical inventory and stock control
To assist the purchasing officer to ensure that the correct stock has been ordered and received into the pharmacy store and all issues from the pharmacy store are accounted for. Full details are provided in the Pharmacy Store Manual.
Outcome Measures:
• Stock movements are recorded by computer by the end of each working day. • Computer balances correspond to stock levels on shelf.
• Expiry date checking policies are followed so that only in-date is available for issue. • Accounts re charging departments are available within 5 working days of the following
month.
• Accounts for internal costings e.g. for CSU budgets, HITH are available on time at the end of the cost period.
General responsibilities are:
4.5. Policies and Procedures
All pharmacy staff must act in accordance with all relevant legal, Medical Centre, etc. policies and procedures.
Outcome Measure:
• Any actions which have occurred contrary to policy must be recorded on an incident form and action taken to minimise future variation from policy.
4.6. Occupational Health and Safety
Participation in the pharmacy department occupational health and safety program is mandatory.
Outcome Measure:
Annual O&HS target activities are undertaken within the designated time frame.
4.7. Customer Satisfaction
All pharmacy staff are expected to adequately meet the needs of their own individual customers, as per the duty roster. In addition, all pharmacy staff are expected to assist in other areas of the pharmacy, should that area be experiencing a heavy workload on a particular day. That is, each staff member should be willing and able to assist to meet the needs of all customers of the pharmacy service.
Position Description - Pharmacy technician - Grade 1 Page 5 • Each staff member must undertake (or participate) in one customer satisfaction activity
every two years. This could be a survey of satisfaction with an individual service (as per duty roster) or a general department activity.
4.8. Continuous Quality Improvement
All pharmacy staff are expected to participate in QA/QI activities and recommend methods to improve the outcomes of the pharmacy service. This can be as part of a work area team. Outcome Measure:
• To document at least two suggestions which have been undertaken to improve the outcomes of the pharmacy service.
• Participation in the expiry date checking schedule for the rostered area is up-to-date. • To write a one page report on a pharmacy service area with comments/suggestions re
customer service aspects of the service. (If a staff member regularly works in only one area, then this report should be done after a one month roster in a less familiar area).
5. KEY SELECTION CRITERIA (Key skills, qualifications, knowledge and behavioural
attributes, together with physical requirements, necessary for performance of the role)
Selection Criteria (essential):
A commitment to Austin Health values: Integrity, Accountability, Respect and Excellence. VCE (or equivalent)
Satisfactory completion of (or will undertake) a certificate III or IV in Health (Hospital Pharmacy Technician) course awarded by a registered training organisation or equivalent qualification (as approved by the Pharmacy Board of Victoria
Customer focus approach to work and service quality Effective communication skills
Willingness to work effectively as a pharmacy department team member Willingness to perform routine, repetitive tasks
Willing to learn new tasks and use initiative Basic computer skills
Selection Criteria (highly desirable): Previous hospital pharmacy experience
Completion of the Peter MacCallum Cytotoxic Training course Forklift licence (for some positions)
Additional Criteria
(for tasks such as manufacturing, clinical trial work, in-house training to be given): Calm, organised approach to workflow
Careful attention to detail at all times Proven ability to work independently
Successful completion of on-the-job training and/or other course e.g. Peter McCallum chemotherapy preparation course, Sterilisation and disinfection courses,
Microbiology/Science).
6. OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION
Duties may be assigned to pharmacy staff from time to time, in any other area of the pharmacy service.
The components of some duty areas will change according to changes in services at the hospital. In addition, new roles and duties will be developed over time, and be assigned by the Director of Pharmacy.
General working hours are: 40 hours per week (1x Accrued Day off/4 weeks), 0830 to 1730 (1 hour for lunch). Participation in weekend roster/public holiday/early-late rosters, as required.
Pre-Existing Injury
Prior to any person being appointed to this position it will be required that they disclose full details of any pre-existing injuries or disease that might be affected by employment in this position.
Signature of employee: Signature of Director/Deputy Director
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Date: Date:
