At the July 18 Board of Pharmacy workshop meeting, the Board considered changing the ratio of pharmacist and pharmaceutical technician (currently 1:3 since 2006) to 1:8 ratio where a pharmacist can supervise up to 8 technicians or up to 5 technicians and 3 technicians-in-training. Unfortunately, board members decided to pursue adopting a 1:4 ratio and removing the ability of a clerk, defined as an individual who is not a pharmacist, intern pharmacist, pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician in training, from performing any task in a pharmacy where they come into contact with any prescription drug that is not packaged for final sale and verified by a pharmacist. This issue will be on the Board’s Workshop Agenda at its Wednesday-Thursday, September 4-5 meeting in Reno.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.