Becoming a pharmacy technician can lead to a stable job with good benefits. A pharmacy technician certificate is not required in many states, but it can help with job stability and advancement. Pharmacy technicians assist pharmacists with administrative and assistant tasks and can work in various settings. Obtaining a certificate requires passing an exam and continuing education every two years.
Becoming a pharmacy technician can be an excellent career move for someone interested in a steady job with good benefits and a good head for the type of organizational preparation and basic medical knowledge required. While you don’t need a pharmacy technician certificate simply to work in a pharmacy, it will help you get a much more stable job in the field. Fortunately, earning a pharmacy technician certificate isn’t too difficult and is an excellent investment for a mid- to long-term career.
A pharmacy technician is not the same as a pharmacist, but plays a close assistant role to the graduate pharmacist. Their responsibilities are partly administrative, answering phones, working the register and stocking, and partly assistant, helping to count dosages, label boxes and help write prescriptions. They never deal directly with pharmaceutical matters, however, like the pharmacist who deals with patients regarding questions they may have about their prescriptions or their general health.
Opportunities for the pharmacy technician can also go beyond simply a job in a pharmacy, to residential settings such as nursing homes or assisted living centers or in a hospital. In this capacity, the technician may not only help prepare dosages, but may also be asked to read patient charts and may be asked to administer dosages, after the amount has been verified by a supervising pharmacist. In some areas, a pharmacy technician may have a pharmacy assistant working with him who handles more administrative tasks, such as answering phones or taking payments; in other areas, it may be necessary for the pharmacy technician to perform both roles.
In fact, a pharmacy technician certificate is not required to become a technician in many states, and in fact, many technicians receive their training on the job as a pharmacy assistant. A certificate can, however, help a potential employer to immediately see that the candidate has an understanding of the roles required of them and a good understanding of the medical terminology they need to know in their work. As the job market becomes more competitive, a pharmacy technician certificate is increasingly an advantage in the application process.
There are two different bodies from which you can obtain a pharmacy technician certificate: the Pharmacy Technician Certification Institute and the Pharmacy Technician Certification Council. To take the exam, a candidate must have no felony convictions within the past five years, no recorded drug felony convictions, and a high school diploma or equivalent. There are programs to help potential candidates study for one exam or another, and many people do so after working as a pharmacy assistant for a few years. Some pharmacies also hire an applicant on a temporary basis, with the understanding that they will receive a pharmacy technician certificate within a certain period of time.
The certificate itself must be renewed every two years by whatever board originally awarded it. Recertification requires twenty hours of continuing education within the two-year period, with at least one hour devoted to the study of pharmacy law. Half of the total commitment can be received in on-the-job training certified by a pharmacist. The other half can be received through a training program, a pharmacy association, or a college program.
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