Pharmacy Technician-Inpatient Sterile Compound and Controlled Substance
What you'd do
This position functions in the Inpatient Pharmacy at the Seattle campus, primarily in the controlled substance vault and patient care areas managing controlled substance inventory in automated dispensing cabinets. Also functions in the unit dose, and sterile compounding areas which includes the preparation of IV admixtures and anti neoplastic agents, medication distribution and inventory control, emergency crash cart replenishment, simple maintenance of automated dispensing equipment.
Major duties
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Abides by laws and regulations pertaining to controlled substances and follows all applicable VHA, DEA, and facility requirements. Maintains complete, accurate, and readily retrievable controlled drug accountability records in accordance with standard operating procedures. Trains new employees in controlled substances distribution, vault operations, and procedural compliance. Evaluates automated dispensing cabinet inventory reports and provides recommendations for optimization to supervisors. Receives, stores, and restocks controlled substances from vendors according to established procedures. Fills inpatient, clinic, and outpatient prescriptions and requests for controlled substances with accuracy and efficiency. Participates in routine inventory counts and inspections, promptly reports discrepancies, investigates vault variances, and recommends process improvements. Processes return stock into inventory, ensures complete and accurate documentation and audit trail, and oversees preparation of expired/unusable controlled substances for destruction. Works with procurement technicians to maintain inventory balance and ensures proper filing of invoices and DEA 222 forms. Ensures all vault inventories are conducted per department guidelines and supports adherence to vault security and integrity policies. Fills unit dose and automated dispensing cabinet orders, receives inventory, applies barcode labels, and restocks shelves as needed. Maintains and operates pharmacy equipment, including automated dispensing machines and barcode printers; repackages pharmaceuticals with proper labeling for verification. Prepares sterile hazardous and non-hazardous CSPs using aseptic technique; verifies, mixes, inspects, labels, and delivers products in accordance with USP 797 and 800. Provides training to pharmacy technicians, students, pharmacists, and inspectors on controlled substances, sterile compounding, and unit dose management procedures. Participates in total quality management (TQM) activities, reports medication errors, assists supervisors with special assignments, interacts with multidisciplinary staff, and supports outpatient pharmacy workflow as needed. Work Schedule: Monday Thru Friday 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM, with occasional weekends and holidays. Evening and night shifts may be required on a very limited basis to meet operational needs. Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): 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 Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:41484F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
What you need to qualify
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: Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). 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. Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR National Health career Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT) 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-8 Experience: Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below. Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: PTCB as a CPhT. OR NHA as a ExCPT. *In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs for all GS-08 assignments and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated: Comprehensive knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology and policies in a specialized area or section of pharmacy (such as sterile compounding, controlled substances, automation, clinical pharmacy, contact center, etc.) Note: See Specialized Area.in the Definitions Section. Skill in training and orienting new and existing pharmacy facility employees and students on proper policies and procedures. Ability to evaluate, analyze and coordinate workflow and work activities within a specialized area or section of the pharmacy. Assignments: Pharmacy technicians in this assignment specialize in areas such as sterile compounding, oncology, controlled substances, medication history review, clinical specialist (anticoagulation, pain, infectious diseases), clinical informatics, automation, immunizations and any other specialized area in the advancement of the profession. The pharmacy technician will serve as a subject matter expert and key resource in the day-to-day technician duties of the specialized area. The technician will be performing assignments such as compounding sterile products, filling controlled substance prescriptions while maintaining compliance with Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regulations, taking medication histories and counseling patients, managing automation, managing workflow and training and orienting staff in the specialized area. Preferred Experience: Two years of pharmacy technician experience with controlled substances and compounding sterile products in a hospital pharmacy setting.Two years' experience using inpatient pharmacy equipment to include experience with Automated Dispensing Cabinets (Omnicell or Pyxis), outpatient pharmacy robotic systems, or TPN compounding devices (BAXA, Pinnacle, etc). Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-8. Physical Requirements: There are no physical requirements for this occupation per OCHCO Communications email to VA Handbook 5019, updated on 4/17/2026.
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