A pharmacy technician job description is explained as a medical professional who perform pharmacy related duties, and their work is directly supervised by pharmacists or some other health care professionals. Their work responsibilities include dispense of medications or medical devices for patients or health care providers, they do administrative work and answer phone calls, organize the supplies, package and label medications, and etc. They work close to patients and keep records; they also need to ensure the medicines that the patients are using are sufficient and used properly. The working responsibilities of a pharmacy technician have been raised in the last years because of the lack of working stuff, and over time they are taking more daily duties from the pharmacist. The pharmacy technicians can also specialize in some areas if they have good experience; these areas include manufacturing, quality control, clinical management, supplies procurement, or even they can be responsible for the education and training for the new pharmacy technician that are not that experienced, and trained, and are usually beginners.
Education And Training
To become a pharmacy technician it is required to have a high school diploma or its equivalent. The duties and responsibilities that the pharmacy technicians have can be learned during the job training. The period of training can vary and it’s according to the employer’s requirements. But there is also a post secondary formal program in pharmacy technology that requires passing an exam. These programs are offered by community colleges or schools. The period to obtain a certificate from this program is approximately one year or less than one year, but there are some associate’s programs that require longer period. The technicians in these programs learn the dosages, uses and names of medications. Most of the programs include clinical experience in pharmacy. Most states require the pharmacy technician to have a license and certificate, or sometimes even the employer can pay for the technician to take the certification exam. After passing the exam and gaining certificate, they must take continuing education courses to recertify. Some states don’t require certification, but they have other regulating norms like paying fees or other exams and training programs. Sometimes completing an internship in pharmacy is also required by the employer, or as a part of the educational training.
Working environment
They can work usually in hospitals, pharmacies, drug store or community retail, but they can sometimes work in a long-term care facilities or even pharmaceutical manufacturers. They work full time. Their job includes night shifts, working weekends or holidays; their schedule is depending on the pharmacies open hours, or the employer’s schedule. They can work in a pharmacy team or with other pharmacy technicians.
Salary
The median annual salary for pharmacy technician in 2018 was $32,700 or $15.72 per hour. The employment for this occupation is projected to grow 20% faster than the average of all occupations.
