How To Become A Pharmacy Technician

If you like working with the public in a job that is fast paced and demanding, you may wish to look into a career as a pharmacy technician. A technician in this field has a variety of job duties. He or she will be responsible for taking in prescriptions from customers, counting out pills and labeling the prescription bottles.

In smaller pharmacies, a technician may also answer phones, stock shelves or operate a cash register. The duties of a technician may vary according to state rules and regulations also.


Pharmacy Technician Education

The first step in how to become a pharmacy technician is to obtain a high school diploma. Once you have done so, you may either receive on the job training or complete a formal training program. On the job training usually takes between three and 12 months. Formal programs, offered at community colleges, hospitals, vocational schools and through the military, take anywhere from six months to two years.

Both laboratory and classroom work are completed in this type of program. You may be required to do an internship before completing the program and a certificate, diploma or associate’s degree may be issued when you successfully complete the requirements.

Pharmacy Technician Certification

To obtain work as a pharmacy technician, you may be required to register with your State board of pharmacy. An application fee may be required for registration. In addition, you may wish to become certified in this field although most states do not require you do so. The Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians and the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board both offer national certification exams. By completing one of these certification programs, you will likely enhance your job prospects.

A career as a pharmacy technician is a good choice as job growth is expected to be good especially is you are certified or have previous experience. When working in this field, you can expect to make a median hourly wage of $13.32 as of May 2008. Those in the top 10% had an hourly median wage of more than $18.98 while those in the bottom 10% made less than $7.69. If you are certified, you will likely make more than those who have not obtained certification. Consider all of the above when determining if this is the right career move for you.

Good Qualities To Have

Take a look at some of the good qualities that are recommended to have to be both successful and have a good time being a pharmacy tech.

• Good customer service skills
• Good communication skills
• Basic math, reading, spelling are required
• Above all Pharmacy technicians have to be precise. Prescribing medication requires you to be exact, not “wishy washy” in any way, after all, the amounts in each medication can be a matter of life and death.

Job Growth

Job growth for pharmacy techs is looking incredibly strong with an expected increase of around 31% over the period between 2008 and 2018. This is an incredibly fast rate of growth when compared to the rest of jobs in the U.S. These figures are taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are a couple of reasons why growth is so strong for pharmacy techs these days. For one thing, the baby boomer generation is getting older and they are expected to be needing a lot of prescription medication. Hence, pharmacies and pharmacy techs will be busy. In addition, pharmacy technicians are expected to take up a lot of the duties performed in the past by pharmacy aides. These duties include a lot of administrative tasks.

Job Description Video

Here’s a short intro video that goes over what a pharmacy technician does.