Pharmacy Technician- Inpatient Pharmacy

Pharmacy Technician- Inpatient Pharmacy

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Seattle, Washington

Salary Range: $47878 - $87133 Per Year

Job Summary: Position functions in the Inpatient Pharmacy at the Seattle campus, primarily in the unit dose and sterile compounding areas. Preparing sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounded sterile preparations, medication distribution and inventory control, emergency crash cart replenishment, simple daily maintenance of automated dispensing equipment and interpreting data from pharmacy information systems. May provide services to the ambulatory care pharmacy or controlled substances vault.

Major Duties:

• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Duties will vary by grade, but at the GS-6 level: Unit Dose Medication Management: Fills unit dose and automated dispensing cabinet orders. Receives inventory from vendors using provided technology, applies barcode or other labeling as indicated and restocks shelves. Inventories and replenishes emergency cart trays and carts. Operates and provides routine maintenance for pharmacy equipment, such as automated dispensing machines and barcode label printers. Repackages a wide variety of pharmaceuticals, labeling them properly and leaving them for final verification. Performs automation replenishment and processes requests for ward stock; performs record keeping for these activities. Uses proper inventory management of Omnicell and proper procedures when adding medications to the Omnicell. Inspects ward stock supplies for unapproved items, storage practices, and outdates; performs record keeping for these activities. Sterile Compounding: Prepares sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounded sterile preparations (CSP's) using aseptic technique and safe handling of hazardous medications described in chapters 797 and 800 of the US Pharmacopoeia. Verifies correct formulation and ingredients; selects and measures appropriate components; mixes components in a safe and appropriate manner; inspects the final product for accuracy, appearance and pharmaceutical elegance; labels the product; takes responsibility for ensuring timely delivery. Follows established protocols in determining appropriate beyond-use dates on all pharmaceuticals prepared. Controlled Substances: Abides by the laws and regulations pertaining to controlled substances and follows all VHA, DEA and local facility requirements. Knows and follows standard operating procedures for maintaining complete, accurate, and readily retrievable controlled drug accountability records. Fills inpatient and clinic requests for controlled substances, fills outpatient prescriptions for controlled substances. Participates in routine inventory counts and inspections, identifies questionable circumstances or unusual trends in narcotic usage. Immediately reports discrepancies to the supervisor. Prepares expired or unusable controlled substances for destruction. General: Teaches pharmacy technicians, students, and proper technique for the preparation of sterile products and teaches students and technicians procedures for the unit dose management system. Interacts with patients, pharmacists, nurses and other clinical staff as required. Answers general questions, and refers therapeutic problems to the Demonstrates the ability to prioritize and make appropriate decisions in urgent or fast-paced situations. Notifies supervisor of safety or quality concerns in a timely fashion. Performs tasks unique to outpatient pharmacy as needed, including filling outpatient prescriptions, wrapping mail, answering phones, dispensing medications at the window and working in the vault Work Schedule: Monday Thru Friday 3:00pm-11:30pm with some weekends and holidays Recruitment Incentive : Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station : Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications: NOTE: THE 2-PAGE RESUME REQUIREMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS OCCUPATIONAL SERIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, REFER TO REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BELOW. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency: Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Education or Experience: None required. For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level. Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: Pharmacy Technician, GS-03 Education and Experience: One year of post-secondary education. OR Six months of general experience. OR Student Technician. A student enrolled in an approved nationally accredited pharmacy technician program for an occupation identified in 38 U.S.C. 7405(a)(1)(A) or (B) may be appointed on a temporary full-time, part-time or intermittent basis under the provisions of 38 U.S.C. 7405(a)(1)(D) for a period not to exceed two years or the duration of the individual's program. Assignment: Employees at the entry-level are developmental trainees. The pharmacy technician trainee is performing routine pharmacy duties under direct supervision of higher graded technicians to learn the basic functions of pharmacy operations. Pharmacy Technician, GS-04 Education and Experience: Completion of two years of post-secondary coursework related to pharmacy (e.g., 12 semester hours of science and mathematics courses). OR Completion of one of the following: Six months of experience, that demonstrated knowledge of medication or medical field practice. OR Successful completion of a military or nationally recognized pharmacy technician education/training program. American Society of Health System Pharmacists® (ASHP), American Pharmacist Association (APHA), Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), PTCB or NHA are examples of acceptable professional organizations recognizing such training programs. NOTE: Training courses recognized by PTCB and NHA are not actual certifications. OR One year of experience equivalent to next lower grade level. In addition to the education or experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: Ability to follow policies and procedures. Ability to maintain appropriate files. Ability to communicate with patients and other health professionals. Ability to follow both written and verbal instructions. Ability to operate office software/equipment to include, computers, software applications and printers. Assignments: Employees at this grade level serve in a pharmacy technician developmental position. Pharmacy technicians at this level perform duties such as dispensing prescriptions at the pharmacy window and prepacking medications. Pharmacy Technician, GS-05 Education and Experience: Successful completion of four years post-secondary education with courses related to pharmacy (e.g., 48 semester hours of science, mathematics, pharmacy) or a bachelor's degree. OR An associate's degree in pharmacy technician or technology (48 semester hours of concentrated pharmacy technician training). OR One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. In addition to the education or experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: Knowledge of basic pharmacy operations. Knowledge of pharmaceuticals to perform duties in pharmacy functional areas. Knowledge of pharmaceutical nomenclature (including generic, chemical and proprietary names of drug). Ability to fill prescriptions. Ability to use pharmacy information systems or basic pharmacy dispensing equipment with oversight. Assignments: Pharmacy technicians at this developmental level perform all duties expected of employees at lower grade levels; however, they are expected to exercise greater judgement, require less supervision and operate in accordance with all established policies and procedures. Pharmacy technicians at this grade level will fill orders and dispense/ deliver medications using automated systems. These technicians require oversight of assigned duties by full performance level technicians and or pharmacists. Pharmacy Technician, GS-06 Education or Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower level. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: Knowledge of Federal and state laws related to pharmacy practice. Knowledge of preparation, storage and distribution of medication products including those requiring special handling and documentation. Ability to use pharmacy information systems or operate pharmacy dispensing equipment. Knowledge of basic inventory procedures. Ability to communicate with patients and staff and direct questions to appropriate personnel. Assignments: Pharmacy technicians at the full performance level may fill orders, dispense/deliver medications using automated systems or provide technical customer service to Veterans related to prescription needs. Duties will include delivery of medications to floors/patients, filling medications for the pharmacist to review, checking for expired medications, answering phones with appropriate disposition, preparing sterile products (when applicable) and assisting with basic inventory management such as putting up stock and identifying when medications need to be ordered. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-3 to GS-6. Physical Requirements: This work requires moderate lifting and carrying (15-44lbs), reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, standing, repeated bending, near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, ability to distinguish basic colors and mental & emotional stability. Environmental factors are constant noise, extensive keyboard/mouse use, working closely with others, and working alone.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the full questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 11/24/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12833191. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

Application Deadline: 2025-11-24