The primary responsibility of a pharmacy technician is receiving and filling prescription requests for patients. These prescription requests can come from physicians, hospitals, nurses, or directly from patients. A pharmacy technician needs to work under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist. They also need to carry out several other tasks, such as:
- Retrieving prescription orders,
- Creating prescription labels,
- Selecting proper prescription container,
- Mixing medications,
- Weighing, measuring, pouring, and counting medications and tablets,
- Preparing insurance claim forms,
- Taking inventory of over-the-counter medicines,
- Answering phones,
- Completing cash register transactions,
- Maintaining patient profiles,
- Awareness regarding the latest medicines and their availability, etc.
As a pharmacy technician, you can work in hospitals, medical stores, personal and health care stores, retail or mail order pharmacies, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, etc. You can work as part time or full time as per the place you work. You may also need to work during evenings or weekends.
Pharmacy Technician Training
You can complete a typical pharmacy technician program from 6 months to two years and the training program includes topics, such as medical knowledge, customer service, pharmaceuticals, etc. The classes can also touch some aspects of trade, which include pharmacy practice, drugs and treatments, medical law, etc. The other topics of some typical pharmacy technician classes are:
- Pharmacology,
- Chemistry,
- Pharmacy record keeping,
- Drug reactions,
- Dosage calculations,
- Medical and pharmaceutical terminology,
- Drug preparation,
- Dosage forms,
- Pharmacy law,
- Interpreting prescriptions,
- Compounding of prescribed medications, etc.
The students need to participate in a clinical internship program as a part of their pharmacy technician course. You can use this period for implementing the knowledge you acquired during classroom studies. During this period, you need to work under a pharmacist or manager.
Certification
After the completion of your graduation, you can appear for an examination conducted by Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) or Institute for Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ICP) for becoming a certified pharmacy technician. This certificate is essential for working in some states. After getting adequate experience in pharmacy technician field, you can return to school and become a licensed pharmacist.
Pharmacy Technician Online Schools
Pharmacy technician online schools offer online certification training programs to the students. These programs train you to acquire knowledge and skills for handling entry level positions in pharmacies. After the completion of the course, you will also be able to prepare for national certification. You can also complete your course in one year if you enroll in pharmacy technician online schools. If you want to become a full fledged pharmacist, you need to complete 6 year degree, internship, and state license. Some of the pharmacy technician online schools are US Career Institute (conducts pharmacy technician certificate program), Allied Schools (Certificate program for pharmacy technicians), Penn Foster Career School, Ultimate Medical Academy (Pharmacy technician diploma programs), etc.
Pharmacy Technician Schools 2012
You can also enroll in various campus oriented pharmacy technician schools for getting high quality training in this field. Some of such schools are:
- National College,
- Everest College,
- Kaplan College,
- Brown Mackie College,
- Remington College, etc.
National College
National College offers one year diploma and 2 year associate degree programs to students. The coursework covers appropriate medical terminology, medicine administration, human relations, healthcare law and ethics, calculations, etc. You will also get training in Microsoft Office Software. The college has campuses in Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Everest College
Pharmacy technician programs of Everest College covers topics, such as anatomy, pharmaceutical calculations, pharmacy administration, physiology, nutrition, etc. You can enroll in the certificate programs of the college in their various campuses.
Kaplan College
The Denver campus of Kaplan College offers certificate programs and its campuses in Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, and California are conducting diploma programs. The training programs of this college include classroom training and hands on experience through internships.
Brown Mackie college
The pharmacy tech associate degree program of Brown Mackie College covers topics, such as medical terminology, physiology, anatomy, medical administration, pharmacy procedures, etc. Students can enroll in their Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio campuses for getting adequate training.
Remington College
Remington College conducts pharmacy tech diploma program to the students. The coursework include topics, such as pharmacology, physiology, dosage calculation, anatomy, etc. The college also provide NPTA sterile products certification to the students. After the completion of the course, you can appear for certification examination of PTCB. The courses are available in Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, Texas, and Louisiana campuses of Remington College.
Pharmacy Technician Salary
As per the data available from the US Department of Labor, more than 300,000 pharmacy technicians are working in the United States and the demand is increasing steadily. It is estimated that the average annual salary of pharmacy technicians working in health and personal care stores is $26,150. You can earn around $30,950 if you work in general medical hospitals, $27,700 if you work in grocery stores, $25,230 if you work in department stores, and $25,840 if you are working in other general merchandise stores.