Pharmacy technician training prepares aspiring pharmacy assistants to perform the many routine tasks associated with prescribed medications, such as helping patients to submit and pick up prescriptions; working with Medicare, Medicaid, HMOs, and various insurance companies; entering prescriptions into the database; labeling and filling prescriptions; verifying the accuracy of filled prescriptions; collecting payments; screening calls for pharmacists; and general administrative duties.

Pharmacy technicians must be prepared to effectively handle prescription medications, including compounding oral solutions, ointments, and creams, and prepackaging various medicines. Pharmacy technician education should include instruction in ordering bulk medicines, performing inventories, preparing chemotherapeutic agents, nutrition solutions and intravenous mixtures, and assisting the pharmacist and doctors in dispensing medications to patients.

Patients’ lives and health depend on accurate preparation and measuring of prescribed medicines, and a solid understanding of how drugs interact with one another, and potential side effects. It is imperative that training be thorough and comprehensive. This is why pharmacy technician schools will provide studies in biological sciences, health sciences, physical sciences, and natural sciences.

The position of pharmacy technician requires a minimum of an associate of arts degree in a field of study directly related to the duties of assisting in a pharmacy. Whether you decide to study in a traditional, campus based environment or get your education from online pharmacy technician schools, the typical pharmacy technician course will provide a minimum of 240 hours of theoretical and practical instruction. Pharmacy technicians can earn from $6 – $15 or more per hour.

Where to Go to School

Pharmacy technician schools are located all over the world. The length of your program will depend on where you go to school but it can take as little as 12 months in accelerated programs and up to three years. You may find that your local community college has a pharmacy technician program or you may have to go to a specific school in your area. You will find that you can look up schools and programs easily with your local yellow pages, or you can use the Internet as there are several directories that will help you. Where you go to school is generally not as important as the education you receive, so be open to all of the schools in your area, but look closely at each of their programs and what the pros and cons may be with each.

Online Possibilities

As with all career choices these days, you may be able to get your pharmacy technician education online. There are many choices available online, and many of them will allow you to work at your own pace. What this means is that you may be able to keep working to support yourself but complete your school work when you have the time. You can get your certificate or diploma through the online pharmacy technician schools, so this may work for you. If you do choose to go to an online pharmacy technician school be sure that you have the determination to get through online schooling. While this is a very convenient way to receive your pharmacy technician education it can also be very easy to slack off and get behind. If you are not a very determined person, or you do not have the ability to discipline yourself you may be better served to go to a traditional online pharmacy technician school.

What to Do With Your Education

Pharmacy technician school can be very demanding, and by the time you complete the program you may be exhausted and you might not be sure what to do next. This happens to the best and the brightest students because it takes a lot of time and determination to get through school and you are so focused on finishing that it can be hard to think beyond that. Once graduation day comes you are not at the end of things, you are just beginning. You can then decide exactly what it is you want to do. You can work at a big pharmacy, a little pharmacy, you can work for drug companies, you can work for insurance companies, as well as in hospital and medical facilities. You don’t just have to go to your local drug store for a job now that you have your certification, you can go anywhere you want. There are so many places in which a pharmacy technician can work, so do not limit yourself. Allow yourself to think outside the box so that you can have a job that you really love going to every day. There are a lot of really fun jobs out there, so while you may have to take something to start with you can always be on the look out for bigger and better jobs within this field. This is a growing field and will always be necessary no matter how technologically advanced we become.

Making It Personal

To succeed with pharmacy technician schooling you need to make it personal. Whether you go to a brick and mortar school or you opt to go to an online school you need to make your education personal, take control, and decide what you want to do with the education. So many students get stuck in the mindset that their education will get them into their neighborhood pharmacy basically as an assistant, but there is so much more that can be done with this certification. Those that excel with this certification or education are those that think outside the box and make this personal, something that they really want. From where you go, how you approach your education, as well as what you do with the education, it’s important that each student do their best to make it a personal plan for success.

While the course duration can vary from school to school, pharmacy technician training takes very little time, indeed. Within a few weeks or months, you can quickly earn a certificate that will impress any employer; or, you may wish to commit to an associate degree program, which can take eighteen months or more. You can also apply for voluntary national certification by taking an exam from The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board. National certification must be reinstated every two years.

Learning to be a pharmacy technician includes both laboratory and academic studies. Classes will cover topics such as medical and pharmaceutical terminology, pharmaceutical calculations, record keeping, working with insurance companies and HMOs, techniques used by pharmacists, administrative duties, and the laws and ethics of the field. Students will be expected to know and understand the names, actions, uses, and doses of various medications. Upon course completion, graduates are granted a diploma, certificate, or an associate degree (depending on the specific program). If you already have a background or experience working in a pharmacy or a health care setting, so much the better.

Today’s online pharmacy technician schools are affordable and convenient, and the best ones are accredited by a health care organization that is approved by the Department of Education. Accreditation is proof that your education and certification will more than qualify you for hire with pharmacies, clinics and hospitals across the nation.

It’s never too late to begin a new career path, and with online pharmacy technician schools, the way to success is clear!