Before you jump into getting a pharmacy technician career, it is very important that you first know everything there is to know about pharmacy tech jobs so you know exactly what you’re getting into. Should you be decided on a pharmacy technician career, this will help you prepare yourself so you can help ensure that you have a successful pharmacy technician career.
The job
A pharmacy technician is a member of the pharmacy staff working directly under a licensed pharmacist. A pharmacy technician career will have you performing pharmacy-related functions as supervised by a pharmacist, including dispensing prescription medication and other kinds of products for health care for patients. While pharmacy technicians can handle the preparation of prescription medication, all medications will still pass through licensed pharmacists for checking before they are released to the patient. And while pharmacy technicians may also be knowledgeable on various medications and treatments, only a licensed pharmacist can officially counsel patients with regards to properly using medications. Especially in a hospital pharmacy setting, pharmacy technicians take care of dispensing and manufacturing units to help free up time for the pharmacists to do independent prescribing and other clinical pharmacy roles. Pharmacy technician duties may also include working with insurance companies and doctors offices in order to make sure that correct medications are doled out and proper payments are received.
The statistics
A pharmacy technician career will have you working from various locations and locations. However, around 75% of those with a pharmacy technician career work in the retail pharmacy setting, either in independent drugstores or those part of a mass retailer chain. The other 16% will find themselves in hospitals, while the remaining 9% will have a pharmacy technician career in internet pharmacies, pharmaceutical wholesalers, and even the Federal Government. To see if you can indeed get a pharmacy technician career, you can know more about pharmacy technician pay online to see how it compares to other jobs available in the market today.
The certification
Like many professions, a pharmacy technician career will require training and certification. After all, you will be responsible for dispensing medication to patients so you need to know what you’re doing. Training and certification is offered mainly by vocational and technical colleges but military institutions and some hospitals also offer courses for pharmacy technicians. CPhT is Certified Pharmacy Technician abbreviated.
Getting a job
As a pharmacy technician career can land you in many different places, there are fairly a lot of options for you to consider. In looking for a job though, make sure that you have all the training and certifications generally needed so you at least complete the most basic yet most important part of the requirements for employment. Do check about requirements though as different pharmacies, institutions, and hospitals may have different requisites as their needs and operations may differ. As such, you will be required to do different things so different requirements will be requested. You can easily get started on looking for openings by going online.