Pharmacy Technician is a job field that is going to grow in the future and has all the gains of working in the healthcare industry without needing a medical clinic background. Pharmacy technicians work under the directions and supervision fo their pharmacists and keep everything running smoothly in the pharmacy the report to. A standard day for a pharmacy technician may include giving out medications to customers, counting pills or measuring medicines for prescriptions, organizing the inventory, keep track of drugs in stock, enter customers information, and medical billing.
Why Become a Pharmacy Technician?
Deciding to pursue a career as a pharmacy technician, means you are choosing an occupation where you will be helping people, but it also has other benefits to consider such as job security, excellent pay with the potential to earn more, continuous learning, rapid growth, first step to becoming a certified pharmacist, and you can work in the healthcare field without needing to perform clinical duties such as dealing with blood, injuries or gore.
Becoming a pharmacy technician is an excellent position if you enjoy working with people, are patient, empathetic, helpful, tech-savvy, and dependable. You need to have an interest in pharmaceuticals and medicines that will facilitate health and recovery from an illness. Also, you should have interests in biology, chemistry, math, a desire to assist patients with medications, and the ability to communicate with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Below are some steps that will help you get a job as a pharmacy technician.
Education Requirements
To become a pharmacy technician, you are required to get a certificate or diploma from an accredited school. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is the accrediting faculty for pharmacy technician programs. Most certificate programs can be completed within a year, while an associate degree program will take about two years. Over schooling, you can expect to cover technical and practical coursework that includes pharmacy law, pharmacology, pharmacy ethics, anatomy, healthcare systems, physiology, medical terminology, and pharmaceutical calculations.
On-Job Training
Most of the pharmacy technician programs have a component that allows students to gain clinical experience during their training. Students can learn on-the-job training in a pharmacy, where they can gain hands-on experience. Training can be completed at a retail drugstore, pharmacy, or medical center.
Get Certified
In some states, pharmacy technicians are required to get a certificate. The majority of employers hire pharmacy technicians who have been certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) or the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). To be approved by the PTCB, applicants need to pass an exam, while for NHA, students need to complete a training program, and have at least one year of experience working as a pharmacy technician.
Enhance Speciality
Some people who choose to become pharmacy technicians may decide to work exclusively for a retail drugstore chain and will complete specialized training to serve as a general pharmacy technician, community pharmacy technician, or central pharmacy operations technician.
Maintain Certification
To keep a pharmacy technician certification, every two years, pharmacy technicians need to pass a recertification exam, along with 20 hours of continuing education before writing the recertification exam.
Resume Tips
To be successful in any career, you first need to get a job, and there are specific skills that hiring managers are looking for in their pharmacy technicians. Try including some of these qualities in your resume, such as excellent attention to details, comfortable working with numbers, customer-oriented, good with computers, organizational skills, a strong commitment to ethics, able to work as a team, and high accuracy in data entry. If you are still gaining job experience, include items such as this on your resume:
- Experience and knowledge in working in customer service, retail or stock rooms
- Volunteer experience, in hospitals or nursing homes
- Familiar with medical terminology
- And additional strengths that can be listed
Review the job description posted and contain the essential qualities that the hiring managers are looking for in your resume to help you get the job as a pharmacy technician.