U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt.

United States Office of Personnel Management

Operating Manual

Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions

Individual Occupational Requirements for

GS-661:    Pharmacy Technician Series

The text below is extracted verbatim from Section IV-B of the Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions (p.IV-B-109), but contains minor edits to conform to web-page requirements.

Use these individual occupational requirements in conjunction with the "Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Technical and Medical Support Positions."

Specialized Experience (for positions at GS-4 and above): Qualifying specialized experience may have been gained in hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, or in pharmaceutical firms or laboratories. Experience must have provided a basic knowledge of:

  • Pharmaceutical nomenclature;
  • Characteristics, strengths, and dosage forms of pharmaceuticals;
  • Pharmaceutical systems of weights and measures; and the
  • Variety of procedures and techniques involved in the care, storage, repackaging, bulk compounding, and distribution of pharmaceuticals.

OR

Education and Training:
For GS-3: Successful completion of 1 year of study that included a course in biology, chemistry, or physics.
For GS-4: Successful completion of 2 years of study in pharmacy or pharmacy technology that included at least 12 semester hours in courses in the care, storage, distribution, and preparation of pharmaceuticals, and appropriate laboratory work.
For GS-5: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study in pharmacy, or that included at least 24 semester hours in pharmacy-related courses.

Successful completion of a course for medical technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or hospital training obtained in a training program given by the Armed Forces or the U.S. Maritime Service under close medical and professional supervision is creditable on a month-for-month basis for general experience.

Successful completion of pertinent specialized training courses in pharmaceutical and pharmacy practices while serving in the Armed Forces is creditable on a month-for-month basis up to the 1 year of specialized experience required for GS-5.

Page created 22 March 1999