(1) To participate in a technician check technician (TCT) program an institutional pharmacy within a hospital must meet the following requirements:

(a) the pharmacy must include TCT as a technician duty, submitted to the Board of Pharmacy by the pharmacist-in-charge as part of the technician utilization plan;

(b) develop a site-specific training program tailored to the patient population and medication distribution system;

(c) designate one pharmacist to be responsible for meeting the TCT program training and validation requirements;

(d) staffing must be adequate to support a consistent utilization of the TCT program;

(e) a pharmacist must review all orders against a medication profile containing pertinent clinical information about the patient (allergies, current medication, etc.);

(f) the medication description on the batch fill list must contain the same description as the labeling on the unit dose package;

(g) the drug distribution system must be structured so that at least one additional check of dispensed medications is completed prior to administration;

(h) develop policies and procedures which include a list of the types of work that a technician may check and the types of work that are excluded from being checked by a technician; and

(i) utilize the TCT program as a tool to redirect pharmacists from distributive tasks to cognitive and patient centered activities.

(2) In order to participate in a TCT program a technician must:

(a) be a registered pharmacy intern in good standing with the board with at least three months experience in unit dose filling; or

(b) be a certified pharmacy technician in good standing with the board working full or part time with six months equivalent experience in unit dose filling; and

(c) complete site specific training in the TCT program.

(3) A TCT training program must include:

(a) didactic lecture (or equivalent training with a self-learning packet);

(b) practical sessions (one-on-one training) which consist of observation of a pharmacist checking a unit dose medication batch and/or cart;

(c) initial validation (and revalidation if needed); and

(d) regular quality assurance audits performed quarterly for the first year then every six months thereafter.

(4) Approval from the Board of Pharmacy or designee is required prior to program implementation.

(5) If at any time a technician loses their validation, that individual must not function as a TCT until they are retrained and revalidated.

(6) All TCT program materials should be readily retrievable for review by the board inspector.

(7) Any facility that is not within an institutional pharmacy within a hospital must come before the board.