§ 6841. Definition of the practice of registered pharmacy technician.
1. A registered pharmacy technician may, under the direct personal
supervision of a licensed pharmacist, assist such licensed pharmacist,
as directed, in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs
used to fill valid prescriptions or medication orders or in compounding,
preparing, and labeling in anticipation of a valid prescription or
medication order for a patient to be served by the facility, in
accordance with article one hundred thirty-seven of this title where
such tasks require no professional judgment. Such professional judgment
shall only be exercised by a licensed pharmacist. A registered pharmacy
technician may only practice in a facility licensed in accordance with
article twenty-eight of the public health law, or a pharmacy owned and
operated by such a facility, under the direct personal supervision of a
licensed pharmacist employed in such a facility or pharmacy. Such
facility shall be responsible for ensuring that the registered pharmacy
technician has received appropriate training to ensure competence before
he or she begins assisting a licensed pharmacist in compounding,
preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs, in accordance with this
article and article one hundred thirty-seven of this title. For the
purposes of this article, direct personal supervision means supervision
of procedures based on instructions given directly by a supervising
licensed pharmacist who remains in the immediate area where the
procedures are being performed, authorizes the procedures and evaluates
the procedures performed by the registered pharmacy technicians and a
supervising licensed pharmacist shall approve all work performed by the
registered pharmacy technician prior to the actual dispensing of any
drug.

2. In addition to the registered pharmacy technician services included
in subdivision one of this section, registered pharmacy technicians may
also assist a licensed pharmacist in the dispensing of drugs by
performing the following functions that do not require a license under
this article:

a. receiving written or electronically transmitted prescriptions,
except that in the case of electronically transmitted prescriptions the
licensed pharmacist or pharmacy intern shall review the prescription to
determine whether in his or her professional judgment it shall be
accepted by the pharmacy, and if accepted, the licensed pharmacist or
pharmacy intern shall enter his or her initials into the records of the
pharmacy;

b. typing prescription labels;

c. keying prescription data for entry into a computer-generated file
or retrieving prescription data from the file, provided that such
computer-generated file shall provide for verification of all
information needed to fill the prescription by a licensed pharmacist
prior to the dispensing of the prescription, meaning that the licensed
pharmacist shall review and approve such information and enter his or
her initials or other personal identifier into the recordkeeping system
prior to the dispensing of the prescription or of the prescription
refill;

d. getting drugs from stock and returning them to stock;

e. getting prescription files and other manual records from storage
and locating prescriptions;

f. counting dosage units of drugs;

g. placing dosage units of drugs in appropriate containers;

h. affixing the prescription label to the containers;

i. preparing manual records of dispensing for the signature or
initials of the licensed pharmacist;

j. handing or delivering completed prescriptions to the patient or the
person authorized to act on behalf of the patient and, in accordance
with the relevant commissioner's regulations, advising the patient or
person authorized to act on behalf of the patient of the availability of
counseling to be conducted by the licensed pharmacist or pharmacy
intern; or

k. performing other functions as defined by the commissioner's
regulations.

3. Under the direct personal supervision of a licensed pharmacist,
unlicensed persons who are not registered pharmacy technicians may
assist licensed pharmacists in performing tasks that do not require
licensure in accordance with regulations promulgated by the commissioner
and are also described in subdivision two of this section. Unlicensed
persons who are not registered pharmacy technicians shall not engage in
or assist in compounding.

4. No licensed pharmacist shall obtain the assistance of more than two
registered pharmacy technicians in the performance of licensed tasks
within their scope of practice or four unlicensed persons, in the
performance of the activities that do not require licensure, the total
of such persons shall not exceed four individuals at any one time.
Pharmacy interns shall be exempt from such ratios, but shall be
supervised in accordance with commissioner's regulations. Individuals
who are responsible for the act of placing drugs which are in unit-dose
packaging into medication carts as part of an approved unit-dose drug
distribution system for patients in institutional settings shall be
exempt from such ratio, provided that such individuals are not also
engaged in performing the activities set forth in subdivision one or
paragraph b, c, d, e, f, g, h, or i of subdivision two of this section.
The licensed pharmacist shall provide the degree of supervision of such
persons as may be appropriate to ensure compliance with the relevant
provisions of regulations of the commissioner.