§ 6841 — Definition of the practice of registered pharmacy technician

§ 6841. Definition of the practice of registered pharmacy technician.\n1. A registered pharmacy technician may, under the direct personal\nsupervision of a licensed pharmacist, assist such licensed pharmacist,\nas directed, in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs\nused to fill valid prescriptions or medication orders or in compounding,\npreparing, and labeling in anticipation of a valid prescription or\nmedication order for a patient to be served by the pharmacy, in\naccordance with article one hundred thirty-seven of this title where\nsuch tasks require no professional judgment. Such professional judgment\nshall only be exercised by a licensed pharmacist. A registered pharmacy\ntechnician may only practice under the direct personal supervision of a\nlicensed pharmacist employed in such a pharmacy. Such pharmacy shall be\nresponsible for ensuring that the registered pharmacy technician has\nreceived appropriate training to ensure competence before beginning to\nassist a licensed pharmacist in compounding, preparing, labeling, or\ndispensing of drugs, in accordance with this article and article one\nhundred thirty-seven of this title. For the purposes of this article,\ndirect personal supervision means supervision of procedures based on\ninstructions given directly by a supervising licensed pharmacist who\nremains in the immediate area where the procedures are being performed,\nauthorizes the procedures and evaluates the procedures performed by the\nregistered pharmacy technicians and a supervising licensed pharmacist\nshall approve all work performed by the registered pharmacy technician\nprior to the actual dispensing of any drug.\n 2. In addition to the registered pharmacy technician services included\nin subdivision one of this section, registered pharmacy technicians may\nalso assist a licensed pharmacist in the dispensing of drugs by\nperforming the following functions that do not require a license under\nthis article:\n a. receiving written or electronically transmitted prescriptions,\nexcept that in the case of electronically transmitted prescriptions the\nlicensed pharmacist or pharmacy intern shall review the prescription to\ndetermine whether in his or her professional judgment it shall be\naccepted by the pharmacy, and if accepted, the licensed pharmacist or\npharmacy intern shall enter his or her initials into the records of the\npharmacy;\n b. typing prescription labels;\n c. keying prescription data for entry into a computer-generated file\nor retrieving prescription data from the file, provided that such\ncomputer-generated file shall provide for verification of all\ninformation needed to fill the prescription by a licensed pharmacist\nprior to the dispensing of the prescription, meaning that the licensed\npharmacist shall review and approve such information and enter his or\nher initials or other personal identifier into the recordkeeping system\nprior to the dispensing of the prescription or of the prescription\nrefill;\n d. getting drugs from stock and returning them to stock;\n e. getting prescription files and other manual records from storage\nand locating prescriptions;\n f. counting dosage units of drugs;\n g. placing dosage units of drugs in appropriate containers;\n h. affixing the prescription label to the containers;\n i. preparing manual records of dispensing for the signature or\ninitials of the licensed pharmacist;\n j. handing or delivering completed prescriptions to the patient or the\nperson authorized to act on behalf of the patient and, in accordance\nwith the relevant commissioner's regulations, advising the patient or\nperson authorized to act on behalf of the patient of the availability of\ncounseling to be conducted by the licensed pharmacist or pharmacy\nintern; or\n k. performing other functions as defined by the commissioner's\nregulations.\n 3. Under the direct personal supervision of a licensed pharmacist,\nunlicensed persons who are not registered pharmacy technicians may\nassist licensed pharmacists in performing tasks that do not require\nlicensure in accordance with regulations promulgated by the commissioner\nand are also described in subdivision two of this section. Unlicensed\npersons who are not registered pharmacy technicians shall not engage in\nor assist in compounding.\n 4. No licensed pharmacist shall obtain the assistance of more than two\nregistered pharmacy technicians in the performance of licensed tasks\nwithin their scope of practice or four unlicensed persons, in the\nperformance of the activities that do not require licensure, the total\nof such persons shall not exceed four individuals at any one time.\nPharmacy interns shall be exempt from such ratios, but shall be\nsupervised in accordance with commissioner's regulations. Individuals\nwho are responsible for the act of placing drugs which are in unit-dose\npackaging into medication carts as part of an approved unit-dose drug\ndistribution system for patients in institutional settings shall be\nexempt from such ratio, provided that such individuals are not also\nengaged in performing the activities set forth in subdivision one or\nparagraph b, c, d, e, f, g, h, or i of subdivision two of this section.\nThe licensed pharmacist shall provide the degree of supervision of such\npersons as may be appropriate to ensure compliance with the relevant\nprovisions of regulations of the commissioner.\n