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Pharmacy Technician Career In Retail Pharmacy Or Hospital
by Heindrick Mackay
http://www.fizzpharmacy.com

A pharmacy technician is a career that is in great demand
today due to an aging population who require more
pharmaceutical needs. Where once the only profession
allowed behind a pharmaceutical counter was a licensed
pharmacist, today laws have changed and permitted helpers to
assist the pharmacist complete orders and perform several
other related duties. This assistant's title is usually
called a pharmacy technician. However, the helper in
certain areas of the country is called a pharmacy helper,
pharmacy assistant, or pharmacy clinician. No matter what
title, a pharmacist must supervise the pharmacy technician's
work.

The foremost duty of a pharmacy technician is to help out in
duties that make filling and dispensing medicines. As the
population increases, so too does the importance of filling
these jobs. The pharmacy technician's work, such as filling
prescriptions into containers, must be verified for accuracy
by the pharmacist before it is given to patients.

Another common duty of a pharmacy technician is to order and
stock inside the pharmacy area. Just as the pharmacist is
not an employee inside a store, the technician is an
employee of the pharmacist. Even though the technician
doesn't need a college degree, specialized training is
recommended for this important healthcare role.

The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) was
formed in 1995 and in its ten-year history has certified
nearly 200,000 technicians through its National
Certification Exam. Potential technicians must complete
a course of study before they can take the exam. The
coursework includes basic anatomy, medical and pharmacy
terminology, pharmacy calculations, and of course the
medications themselves. Students become familiar with
insurance and other reimbursement practices. Students
also learn about interacting with patients.

The second part of coursework is supervised clinical
training in both the retail pharmacy and hospital pharmacy
settings. This training must total no less than 20 hours,
supervised by pharmacist who reports the student's progress.

What do these student take with them from this coursework?
Below is a list of some tasks where the student must
demonstrate an understanding.

Laws for federal and state pharmacies
Ethics in pharmaceutical patient care
Interpreting doctor orders and written prescription
Dispensing and packaging medicine
Pharmaceutical terms and abbreviations
Mathematics as it fits into pharmacy
How medications work on the human anatomy
Patient and medical staff interactions
Recognizing and billing insurance and government
carriers
Inventory control

Do you see yourself as a pharmaceutical technician? This
career suits you best if you are detail-oriented and want to
enter the health-care field. Jobs in this field are
currently very abundant in both retail and hospital sites
across the nation.

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