Pharmacy Technician Requirements

Pharmacy Technician Requirements

This post provides complete information on the requirements you may have to fulfill to become a pharmacy technician and advance your career.

It covers the educational requirements you need to have to be qualified to work as a pharmacy technician, as well as job and certification requirements to help you build a successful career.

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Pharmacy Technician Requirements for Career Success

If you are interested in becoming a pharmacy technician and building a successful career, here are the requirements you may have to meet:

1. Pharmacy Technician Educational Requirements

Choosing to pursue an educational program in a field is a big decision to make.

Revise the education requirements below to know the suitable program for a pharmacy technician career.

• High school diploma or GED: High school diploma is the only formal educational requirement to become a pharmacy technician in most cases.

This program teaches basic knowledge about medical settings and it takes a year to complete. it is focused primarily on pharmacy tech classes.

Students learn about pharmacology and pharmacy calculations. It is best for those who want to become pharmacy technicians in no distant time and don’t expect to pursue further education.

Admission requirements for High School Diploma in Pharmacy Technician program

To enroll for this program, the individual must have completed High School educational program and must have passed required courses like Biology, Chemistry, and Physiology, so as to be admitted.

• Associate of Applied Science in Pharmacy Technology: An associate degree in Pharmacy Technology may take up to two years to complete.

Students are tutored on courses such as Pharmacology, Dosage calculations, Chemistry, and Health care practitioner ethics. This program prepares students to work closely with licensed pharmacists.

Admission requirements for Associate’s Degree in Pharmacy Technician program

To enroll for this program, the applicant must attain a high school diploma GPA of at least 2.0 and must at least have a “C” grade or higher in Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics.

• Pharmacy tech degrees are not available at the Baccalaureate, Master’s, and Doctorate levels. If you plan on advancing your knowledge to a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degree level, consider taking a degree in Chemistry, which meets up which the educational requirements for pharmacy tech positions.

2. Pharmacy Technician Job Requirements

To ensure success, pharmacy technicians should have excellent organizational and time management skills; the ability to make accurate decisions and an innate ability to maintain accuracy irrespective of changes.

These are the various job requirements to be effective working as a pharmacy technician:

• Organizational skills: The pharmacy technician ensures the pharmacy is kept organized. The most popular task is keeping and arranging the drugs and supplies in shelves
• Technical skills: The pharmacy technician should know how to operate the hospital’s computer system and the medical equipment
• Interpersonal skills: Pharmacy technician must be able to relate and know how to deal with various types of patients with different health issues. They must have strong people skills and be able to protect patients’ confidence
• Knowledge of pharmacy law and medical terminology: Pharmacy technicians should obtain the required knowledge on the medical ethics and terminologies
• Experience in a fast paced working environment and fast dexterity abilities
• Possess a high school diploma or its equivalent qualification such as the GED certificate
• Pharmacy technician must have knowledge of medication and dosage measurement
• Successful completion of pharmacy technician certified programs
• Four or more years of customer service experience is required by some pharmaceutical outlets.

3. Pharmacy Technician Certification Requirements

Completing a pharmacy technician certificate program could help individuals acquire the proper techniques for this profession.

Are you enthused to know the types of ongoing training or certifications necessary to be an effective pharmacy technician?

You are on the right place.

If you want to be certified by an accredited certification program, consider enrolling in any of these programs:

• Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB): The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) issues certificate to pharmacy technicians who have passed their tests and qualified to assist pharmacists and advanced medication safety and patient care teams in all practice settings.

The PTCB consists of two national certification programs, which are the Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) and the Certified Compounded Sterile Preparation Technician™ (CSPT™).

Requirements: Have a high school diploma, GED or Associate’s degree in Pharmacy Technology, clean record of felony or drug-related convictions.

• Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT): This program is organized and certificate is issued by PTCB. Once a pharmacy technician becomes certified, he or she may use the title “CPhT”. The certificate must be recertified every two years.

Requirements: The pharmacy technicians must meet eligibility requirements, which include a passing score on the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCB).

• Certified Compounded Sterile Preparation Technicians (CSPTs): This certification provides specified knowledge and skill in the specialty area in preparation of Compounded Sterile.

Compounded Sterile Preparation (CSPs), commonly referred to as sterile compounding requires unique knowledge and skill that is above and beyond the standard for CPhTs.

• Pharmacy Technician Specialty Certification: The National Pharmacy Technician Association (NPTA) offers three specialty certification programs which are:

Sterile Products (IV) certification: This course provides knowledge on hazardous vial manipulations, aseptic hand washing, quality control, sterile products, and sterile product preparation, and other related materials.
>> Chemotherapy certification: This course teaches certified pharmacy technicians and students how to handle hazardous drugs.
>> Compounding certification: Compounding is often referred to as an art and science because it involves customization of medicines. Having this certification can help advance the pharmacy technician career.

Requirements: Attain a high school diploma or the equivalent GED, graduate from an accredited pharmacy technician training program (1 year) and get certified by National and Regional Certification bodies (timeline varies).

Requirements: Certified Pharmacy Technician must either complete a PTCB recognized sterile compounding training program and have one year of work experience in sterile compounding; or have 3 years of work experience in sterile compounding.

Pharmacy Technician Responsibilities

Pharmacy technician is also called health care provider who performs pharmacy-related functions and works in collaboration with a licensed pharmacist.

Pharmacy technicians work in a variety of locations such as community, retail, and hospital pharmacies outlets, but can also work for long-term care facilities, pharmaceutical product manufacturers.

Shown below are highlights of the pharmacy technician major responsibilities:

• Ensures medications are available by delivering medications to patients and other various departments in the medical settings
• Counting prescribed medication, filling, and computing prescriptions, and labeling medication
• Delivering customer service care to patients, reply questions or requests, and referring inquires from patients to the pharmacist for medical administration, advice, or information
• Protects pharmacist, patients, and other employees by adhering to infection-control policies, protocols, and sanitation
• Generates and calculate revenues by recording, and issuing charges after or before medications
• Ensures all security measures and protocols are adhered to and also ensures the quality standards of all drugs and medications’ validity
• Keeps record of drugs and alerts pharmacists of any shortages of medications or supplies
• Resolves issues and claims, for example when a rejected insurance claim arises
• Assisting with insurance claims processing
• Arranges medication schedule for patients with the pharmacists
• Receives and keeps incoming supplies in storage; ensures quantities match up with invoices.