CVS Pharmacy Technician Duties 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal agency is responsible for regulating controlled substances that pharmacy technicians handle?
- FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
- DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) (Correct answer)
- CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
- OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
Correct answer: DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)
The DEA enforces the Controlled Substances Act and regulates the dispensing, storage, and record-keeping of all scheduled substances.
Question 2: A customer presents two prescription bottles and says a second pharmacy already filled one of them. How should the technician handle the potential duplicate fill?
- Fill both prescriptions since the customer has two separate bottles
- Verify in the system whether the prescription was recently filled and notify the pharmacist (Correct answer)
- Refuse to fill either prescription without contacting both pharmacies first
- Accept the prescription and bill the insurance — duplicates are the insurer's problem
Correct answer: Verify in the system whether the prescription was recently filled and notify the pharmacist
Checking fill history and notifying the pharmacist prevents duplicate dispensing, which poses safety and fraud risks.
Question 3: What is the primary purpose of a pharmacy technician performing a 'pill count' at the end of their shift?
- To verify inventory levels for ordering purposes
- To reconcile controlled substance counts against dispensing records as required by law (Correct answer)
- To prepare overnight stock for the next day's technicians
- To ensure no medications were misplaced in non-refrigerated areas
Correct answer: To reconcile controlled substance counts against dispensing records as required by law
End-of-shift controlled substance counts are required to detect any discrepancies between dispensed quantities and physical inventory.
Question 4: A pharmacy technician incorrectly enters a patient's date of birth when creating a new profile. Why is this data entry error particularly dangerous?
- It will cause billing errors with the patient's insurance
- It can result in the wrong patient receiving medications if records are matched incorrectly (Correct answer)
- It will generate a system alert that slows workflow
- It only matters for patients over 65 who qualify for Medicare
Correct answer: It can result in the wrong patient receiving medications if records are matched incorrectly
Incorrect patient demographics can lead to wrong-patient dispensing events, which are serious medication errors.
Question 5: When preparing a prescription for a pediatric patient, a technician notices the prescribed dose seems unusually high for the child's weight. What should the technician do?
- Dispense the medication as written — dosing is the prescriber's responsibility
- Reduce the dose to what seems appropriate before dispensing
- Flag the prescription for the pharmacist to perform a dose verification (Correct answer)
- Call the prescriber directly to discuss the dose
Correct answer: Flag the prescription for the pharmacist to perform a dose verification
Technicians should flag potential dosing concerns for pharmacist review; the pharmacist is responsible for clinical verification before dispensing.
Question 6: Which of the following tasks is within the scope of a pharmacy technician's duties?
- Authorizing refills for maintenance medications without pharmacist review
- Performing the final verification check on a filled prescription
- Preparing compounded sterile products without pharmacist supervision
- Processing insurance prior authorization requests independently (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Processing insurance prior authorization requests independently
Technicians may handle the administrative steps of prior authorization requests, though clinical judgment still requires pharmacist involvement.
Question 7: A pharmacy receives a prescription written by a doctor whose DEA number needs verification for a controlled substance. What resource should the technician use?
- Call the state board of pharmacy directly
- Check the prescriber's DEA number using the DEA registration database or built-in system tools (Correct answer)
- Ask the patient to confirm the doctor's credentials
- Verify through the pharmacy's internal prescriber contact list only
Correct answer: Check the prescriber's DEA number using the DEA registration database or built-in system tools
The DEA registration database (or the system's built-in verification tool) is the authoritative source for confirming a prescriber's DEA registration.
CVS Pharmacy Technician Duties 3
Which federal agency is responsible for regulating controlled substances that pharmacy technicians handle?