Tech Trek Navigator: Michael Reining, CPhT

Michael Reining has been in his current regulatory compliance role for about six months and has been in the pharmacy field for approximately ten years. He discovered his passion for regulatory compliance when he became involved in the operations/business side of retail pharmacy. His biggest piece of advice to other pharmacy technicians is not to sell yourself short—”Take the shot and see where it goes.”

What do you like about regulatory compliance?

My favorite part is having that understanding of how important it is to have a good compliance program set up for a pharmacy. If you aren't compliant and can’t pass accreditation checks, you won’t be a pharmacy for very long. I enjoy the data analysis—does what we are doing match up with the accrediting bodies and government regulations? Are we doing what we need to to keep going?

How do you help your pharmacy keep up with regulatory changes?

I’m constantly keeping up with changes in different states to see if there are adjustments that need to be made. Then I work on rolling it out to our colleagues and make sure we are crossing all our Ts and dotting all our Is. We are licensed in 38 states across the US and aiming for all 50.

Did you imagine being a pharmacy technician doing regulatory compliance?

Did I grow up saying I want to be the compliance person at a pharmacy? No, but stepping out of that standard role of the pharmacy technician—getting into some of the leadership opportunities and seeing it not just from the practice side but the business side—has made the difference. I’ve been in pharmacy roles for roughly 10 years. Pharmacy, and healthcare in general, is my passion. I found that I enjoy the business side of pharmacy. I’ve always been one of those analytical people—I’m going to find this problem and work to fix this. That's the majority of what I do day in and day out.

How does PTCB fit into your career goals?

I definitely plan to earn my CPhT-Adv credential when I have time. I’m extremely excited to see the regulatory compliance certificate come out. I hope a lot of people look at that certificate. A lot of technicians think there isn’t anything beyond being the person at a retail pharmacy counting the medications and talking to patients. What you can do as a technician is so much broader than that.

What advice do you have for pharmacy technicians interested in a regulatory compliance role?

Look at what you do in your current role in terms of the compliance side. Are you following every policy and procedure that your employer has there? See if you think you want to look at this daily—is everyone following those rules, are you going to be able to say something to those who may not be following the procedures and policies properly? There are some days when I’m not everyone’s favorite person.

Don’t sell yourself short. If you want to have a career as a pharmacy technician to whatever degree you want that to be, take the shot and see where it goes.

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