Licensure, Registration, and Scope of Practice
The license is personal; the permit is the site
Alabama issues a personal license to each pharmacist and a permit to each pharmacy location. A pharmacist may not practice on a lapsed license, and a pharmacy may not operate without a permit and a designated pharmacist-in-charge (PIC). Technicians and interns must be registered with the Board before performing any duties. Nonresident pharmacies shipping into Alabama must register. Renewal requires timely filing and continuing education; practicing during a lapse is a violation even if renewal is completed later.
Scope: dispensing and compounding under a valid prescription, counseling, drug utilization review, immunization administration and naloxone dispensing under protocol, and other services recognized in rule. Alabama does not grant pharmacists general independent prescriptive authority; expanded authority flows from protocols, standing orders, or collaborative arrangements with prescribers. Delegation to technicians and interns is limited - technicians may prepare, count, label, and perform clerical work under pharmacist supervision, but final verification, counseling, and clinical judgment remain with the pharmacist.
Traps: confusing 'supervision' with 'physical presence'; letting a technician counsel or accept a new oral prescription; assuming an out-of-state license permits Alabama practice; assuming intern status allows unsupervised work; assuming a protocol expands scope without required certification or documentation. The PIC is accountable for the acts of personnel in the pharmacy.
Rule of thumb: before any task ask three questions - is this person licensed or registered, is the task within the scope set by statute and rule, and is the required supervision actually in place?