Make sure you know what requirements you need with the PTCB or pharmacy board of your state. For example, you may be required to have some credits in pharmacy law, I know I need 2. It will state in the CE documentation if it meets certain requirements.

I haven’t exactly had a hard time finding some decent ones, but I did have to do some searching. All of these are reputable, some (possily all of these) offer free CE’s, but some have a fee.

http://www.cecity.com/ncpa/catalogue.htm
http://www.rxschool.com/
http://www.powerpak.com/
http://www.pharmacytimes.com/continuing-education
https://www.freece.com/freece/Continuing_Education_Online_Pharmacy_Technician.asp?ProID=8
http://www.ashp.org/virtual-ce/
http://www.pharmacyweek.com/job_seeker/career/ce.asp
http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/

These few below are pretty common - switching places between two letters in the name.

Coudamin = Coumadin
Fonisopril = Fosinopril
Panatol = Patanol
Fenofexadine = Fexofenadine

These are all actual mix-ups from customers or clerks. But I have to make two key points (and these are also from customers) - 10/160 does not equal 170 and Prevacid is not a toothpaste (Prevident).

Clearly, it is exactly because of these statistics that we have had our recent shortages of oxycodone and subsequent flood of calls looking for inventory. The DEA is not sitting still on this and most likely the state will take some actions as well. Unfortunately, as usual, legitimate customers and pharmacy personnel are caught right in the middle.

In the first case, the doctor wrote the prescription for 5 pre-filled syringes of Lovenox, for a specific strength (it comes in a variety of strengths), for a 5 day supply. This is real simple - 1 syringe each day. The insurance company would not pay for the medication unless he put it in as a 7 day supply.

Does that make any sense? What happens if after 5 days the doctor decides the patient needs to continue the medication for a few more days? The insurance company would then refuse to pay for it on the grounds that it is too soon!!!

The other two cases were nearly identical, except one was a 4 day supply (insurance rep said to put it in as an 8 day supply) and a 7 day supply (insurance rep said to put it in as an 19 day supply!)

Most likely, if a refill was needed, the insurance company would require a PA (prior authorization) from the doctor. I would hope, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the insurance company refused altogether. Lovenox is expensive stuff. I guess it doesn’t matter much to them that it might save the patients life.

The third happened today and the pharmacist pointed out something interesting that I hadn’t thought of. When it comes time for an insurance audit, it is highly likely that if one of these prescriptions came up in front of an auditor, they would refuse to pay for it. Get this - on the grounds that it was not run through insurance according to the doctors directions on the prescription! Even though changing the days supply is exactly what the rep required for the insurance company to pay for it! I haven’t yet seen exactly this scenario play out, but from what I have seen of insurance audits, it is certainly possible.

By the way, the insurance company in all three cases was Humana, or as I like to call them, Inhumana.

Starting on April 1, 2009 (and it wasn’t an April Fools joke!), the PTCB (Pharmacy Technician Certification Board) began a new system of testing. This on-demand testing with immediate results is a logical step forward for the certification process. It makes things easier and more efficient for the pharmacy technician. Slowly but surely all the pieces are coming together for a more consistent standard for pharmacy technicians nation-wide, and this will have a long-term positive effect on the pharmacy technician profession. It means more respect, better pay, better benefits and more opportunities.

Since our supplier can’t supply us with masks, one of our intrepid employees, actually the manager of one of our stores, went to Home Depot and bought masks by the box (20 or 50, I don’t know for sure) for us to sell. (Is it ironic that Cardinal Health can’t supply surgical masks, but we can buy masks with an equivalent rating by the box at Home Depot?)

Anyway, we marked them up and we’re selling them out. It doesn’t matter that they won’t be much help. People just want them. There are lots of travelers, but it’s amazing that some people come in for masks and they aren’t going anywhere. They’re just scared by the media hype.

Others come bearing Tamiflu prescriptions when they don’t even have any symptoms - they just demand that their doctor give them a prescription so that they are ‘prepared’ for the Great Pandemic of ‘09. We’re almost enjoying telling people “no, it’s for people who actually have the flu.”

And our Oxycodone calls are finally slowing down. I guess they got the point.

As she got off the phone, I explained to her simply - “treat it like Oxycodone - we don’t have any and we don’t know when we’ll be getting any.”

Our supplier was out of Tamiflu and masks almost immediately and we quickly sold what we had in stock as people watch too much TV and begin to panic before we have any real news on this Swine Flu outbreak. (Yes, it is just an outbreak. People (ie the media) are desperate to call it a pandemic. Can we please just call it an outbreak until we have enough cases to call it an epidemic and then maybe we can begin to consider calling it a pandemic?)

So, for us in the pharmacy, at least in the first days of this Swine Flu outbreak, Tamiflu and surgical masks are our new Oxycodone (without the conspiracy).

The current oxycodone shortage is the US government’s way of limiting the supply of oxycodone to those who have ‘legitimate’ uses for it. They have determined that up to 50% of oxycodone use is illegitimate - either for supporting a drug habit or more seriously, for sale or distribution - so they’ve decided to take steps to curb that.

By limiting the supply, pharmacies are forced to limit the sale of oxycodone to only their regular customers, or to customers without any ‘red flags,’ that is, if they can get any at all. Those supporting their addiction to oxycodone or looking to sell it are forced to call pharmacy after pharmacy to find a supply for even a single prescription.

So, for the most part, the only ones being hurt are those with an addiction, or those looking to sell it, presumably to those with an addiction. Those with a real need can usually have their doctor write a prescription for an alternative. Addicts don’t want an alternative.

There we have it. We’re part of the conspiracy (actually we don’t have a choice, we can’t get any more oxycodone if we wanted to) and it doesn’t bother us. Anyone really have a problem with that?

Psychodyne Pharmaceuticals CEO Gerald Stokes has been unavailable for comment, but spokesman Michael (Mikey) Goodtimes says “dude, it’s awesome. We’re in the final testing phases now and it’s just the shiznit.”

Ever since the unexpected growth and success of Sarcasma, traditional pharmaceutical manufacturers have been struggling to come up with new medications with the same potential impact. But, makers of Xanax, Prozac and other medications are downplaying the effectiveness of the latest drug.

Says one anonymous representative of a major manufacturer and competitor of Psychodyne - “come on, who you gonna believe, us or them?”