PTA

PTA stands for pharmazeutisch-technische Assistentin, the qualified technical staff who carry much of the daily work in a German pharmacy.

Two rules about PTA are constantly confused in coverage of the Apothekenreform, and getting them the wrong way round creates real liability.

A PTA may administer vaccines. That has its own legal basis in § 20c Infektionsschutzgesetz, and the ApoVWG widened pharmacy vaccination to all non-live vaccines.

A PTA may not carry out the venöse Blutentnahme. § 11c Apothekengesetz reserves it for an approbierter Apotheker who has completed an ärztliche Schulung. The puncture may not be delegated to a PTA either. The only permitted delegate is a Pharmazeut im Praktikum under supervision.

The reason the two differ is that vaccination and venous blood collection were regulated separately and at different times, not that one is considered harder than the other. Nothing in the reform merges them.

What a PTA may do around a blood draw is support it. Preparing the room and the materials, handling documentation, and looking after sample handling and dispatch all sit within reach. Aufklärung, Anamnese and consent do not, because those stay with the pharmacist carrying out the draw.

For a pharmacy planning a diagnostics offering this is a staffing question before it is a legal one. The service is limited by how many trained pharmacists are on the floor, not by the size of the team.