N.Y. Education Law § 6841: Definition of the practice of registered pharmacy technician

§ 6841. Definition of the practice of registered pharmacy technician.

1. A registered pharmacy technician may, under the direct personal

supervision of a licensed pharmacist, assist such licensed pharmacist,

as directed, in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs

used to fill valid prescriptions or medication orders or in compounding,

preparing, and labeling in anticipation of a valid prescription or

medication order for a patient to be served by the pharmacy, in

accordance with article one hundred thirty-seven of this title where

such tasks require no professional judgment. Such professional judgment

shall only be exercised by a licensed pharmacist. A registered pharmacy

technician may only practice under the direct personal supervision of a

licensed pharmacist employed in such a pharmacy. Such pharmacy shall be

responsible for ensuring that the registered pharmacy technician has

received appropriate training to ensure competence before beginning to

assist a licensed pharmacist in compounding, preparing, labeling, or

dispensing of drugs, in accordance with this article and article one

hundred thirty-seven of this title. For the purposes of this article,

direct personal supervision means supervision of procedures based on

instructions given directly by a supervising licensed pharmacist who

remains in the immediate area where the procedures are being performed,

authorizes the procedures and evaluates the procedures performed by the

registered pharmacy technicians and a supervising licensed pharmacist

shall approve all work performed by the registered pharmacy technician

prior to the actual dispensing of any drug.

2. In addition to the registered pharmacy technician services included

in subdivision one of this section, registered pharmacy technicians may

also assist a licensed pharmacist in the dispensing of drugs by

performing the following functions that do not require a license under

this article:

a. receiving written or electronically transmitted prescriptions,

except that in the case of electronically transmitted prescriptions the

licensed pharmacist or pharmacy intern shall review the prescription to

determine whether in his or her professional judgment it shall be

accepted by the pharmacy, and if accepted, the licensed pharmacist or

pharmacy intern shall enter his or her initials into the records of the

pharmacy;

b. typing prescription labels;

c. keying prescription data for entry into a computer-generated file

or retrieving prescription data from the file, provided that such

computer-generated file shall provide for verification of all

information needed to fill the prescription by a licensed pharmacist

prior to the dispensing of the prescription, meaning that the licensed

pharmacist shall review and approve such information and enter his or

her initials or other personal identifier into the recordkeeping system

prior to the dispensing of the prescription or of the prescription

refill;

d. getting drugs from stock and returning them to stock;

e. getting prescription files and other manual records from storage

and locating prescriptions;

f. counting dosage units of drugs;

g. placing dosage units of drugs in appropriate containers;

h. affixing the prescription label to the containers;

i. preparing manual records of dispensing for the signature or

initials of the licensed pharmacist;

j. handing or delivering completed prescriptions to the patient or the

person authorized to act on behalf of the patient and, in accordance

with the relevant commissioner's regulations, advising the patient or

person authorized to act on behalf of the patient of the availability of

counseling to be conducted by the licensed pharmacist or pharmacy

intern; or

k. performing other functions as defined by the commissioner's

regulations.

3. Under the direct personal supervision of a licensed pharmacist,

unlicensed persons who are not registered pharmacy technicians may

assist licensed pharmacists in performing tasks that do not require

licensure in accordance with regulations promulgated by the commissioner

and are also described in subdivision two of this section. Unlicensed

persons who are not registered pharmacy technicians shall not engage in

or assist in compounding.

4. No licensed pharmacist shall obtain the assistance of more than two

registered pharmacy technicians in the performance of licensed tasks

within their scope of practice or four unlicensed persons, in the

performance of the activities that do not require licensure, the total

of such persons shall not exceed four individuals at any one time.

Pharmacy interns shall be exempt from such ratios, but shall be

supervised in accordance with commissioner's regulations. Individuals

who are responsible for the act of placing drugs which are in unit-dose

packaging into medication carts as part of an approved unit-dose drug

distribution system for patients in institutional settings shall be

exempt from such ratio, provided that such individuals are not also

engaged in performing the activities set forth in subdivision one or

paragraph b, c, d, e, f, g, h, or i of subdivision two of this section.

The licensed pharmacist shall provide the degree of supervision of such

persons as may be appropriate to ensure compliance with the relevant

provisions of regulations of the commissioner.