Pharmacy technology

       Over the past 40 years, technology has had a major impact on the working lives of millions of people. Many industries have embraced computer technology because of the benefits of automated information processing. Electronic health records (EHRs) offer excellent opportunities for the advancement of patient care by pharmacists and patients themselves. This program integrates clinical information with pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, appointments, and billing information. the EHR is interfaced with the pharmacy dispensing system, allowing for electronic transmission and processing of prescriptions, drug allergies, and refill requests and approvals. This process speeds up dispensing considerably and results in a marked decrease in errors associated with handwriting interpretation.

       Technicians use machines and instruments to help them manage their workload. Familiarizing yourself with these instruments can help you become more knowledgeable, more efficient and more accurate. Read to find out more about these four important machines. Some of the most common instruments are:

• Autoclave: This is an important machine for keeping a pharmacy clean and running efficiently. Pharmacy technicians use the autoclave to sterilize their equipment and tools. The autoclave ensures that there is no cross-contamination between drugs. It also stops the spread of germs. The machine cleans the tools with high-pressure steam that creates a temperature of more than 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Liquid-Filling Machines: Pharmacy technicians can use these machines to automatically fill liquid prescriptions, such as cough syrup. The machine measures out the right amount to accurately fill vials and bottles for customers.

• Tablet-Counting Machine: The primary job of a pharmacy technician is to help the pharmacist fill medical prescriptions. These prescriptions are most often for pills – making the tablet-counting machine one of the most crucial tools for day-to-day work at a pharmacy. The machine counts pills quickly and accurately by using a vibrating plate to drop pills onto a scale until the desired amount is reached. This saves you time because you don’t have to count the pills by hand.

• Tablet Hardness Tester: Another important machine for pill prescriptions is a tablet hardness tester machine, which is a handheld device that measures the hardness and friability, or fragility, of tablets. Hardness is among the five essential tablet qualities to test (along with thickness, width, diameter and weight) and it is important to test because it allows pharmacists to gauge the ability of a tablet to avoid breaking apart during transportation.