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1998 SESSION

983047717
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 61
Offered January 21, 1998
Requesting the Board of Pharmacy to examine the need to regulate pharmacy technicians.
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Patron-- Miller, Y.B.
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Referred to the Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, the Board of Pharmacy, pursuant to Chapter 33 of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia, has the responsibility to license pharmacists, drug manufacturers, drug warehousers, some dispensing physicians, and all pharmacies in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, pharmacists are an integral part of the doctor-patient relationship and instrumental in providing health care to Virginians; and

WHEREAS, changes in the provision of health care and the burgeoning number of drugs have placed greater burdens on the pharmacist to help guide the patient in his treatment; and

WHEREAS, new federal and state regulations require the pharmacist to provide more patient counseling to ensure compliance and guard against overprescribing, placing additional burdens on licensed pharmacists; and

WHEREAS, to deal with this issue, pharmacists are turning to the use of pharmacy technicians to ease the demands and provide more time for the pharmacists to deal with patients one-on-one; and

WHEREAS, these technicians, although not health professionals, perform important and responsible activities, such as counting pills and distributing the prepared prescriptions; and

WHEREAS, given the complexity of prescriptions and their lack of formal training, pharmacy technicians are placed in a situation where serious mistakes could occur; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Pharmacy currently has only the authority to generally regulate these technicians as ancillary personnel; and

WHEREAS, many of the public are unaware that untrained or only moderately trained personnel are handling their prescriptions; and

WHEREAS, although pharmacy technicians are helpful and do assist in preventing long waits for prescriptions, there are concerns about the lack of regulatory purview over the activities and training of these technicians; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the Board of Pharmacy be requested to examine the need to regulate pharmacy technicians.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Board of Pharmacy for this study, upon request.

The Board of Pharmacy shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1999 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.