What do technicians do?
Pharmacy technicians process prescriptions and assist the pharmacist in helping patients within their community. They act as a liaison between a pharmacist and patients. The shortage of pharmacists has increased the need for qualified pharmacy technicians. To becoming a certified pharmacy technician in the United States, you need to pass the PTCB exam. Below, we explore more about how you can join this profession.
To become a pharmacy technician, it is important that you have an interest in in math, biology, and chemistry, and have excellent communication skills. Also, if you’ve always had an interest in health and well-being, this is an optimum career choice for you.
Training to Become a Technician
You need a formal education to become a pharmacy technician. But it would be better if you have a formal training from any ASHP certified school. For getting formal training, you need to get yourself enrolled in an ASHP certified pharmacy teaching school that suits you the best. ASHP is the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, it is a governing body for providing certified pharmacy technician courses.
You can find pharmacy technician programs at vocational schools and community colleges. The duration of this program is typically between one to two years, at the end you will be awarded an associate degree or a certificate. In this program, you learn about drugs, procedures followed in the pharmacy practice, medical practice, and pharmacy law.
Along with formal education, you need to take part in an internship. It could be a part of the pharmacy technician program or can be done after you have completed your educational training. During the internship, a professional pharmacy technician will supervise you, so that you can learn and gain experience in this field. This will be the best time to learn about drugs dosage, brand names, indications, and mechanism of action of different drugs.
Take the PTCB Test
There are different rules and regulations in every state regarding the certification of pharmacy technicians. Employers would prefer to hire a technician certified by PTCB or NHA even when it is not required by the state.
To take an exam for certification, you have two options. The PTCB conducts Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE), while NHA conducts Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT). If you like to take PTCE, you can take the exam directly. But if you are going to take ExCPT you are required to complete a training program or have an experience of one year at least as a pharmacy technician. In both cases, you will require having a high school diploma.
The exam is composed of 90 PTCB multiple-choice questions – typically with 4 answers to choose between. To pass the exam, you need to achieve a score of 70 percent or more, though some States may require you to achieve a higher grade.
If you wish to work in a specialist department, you can commence further training. For that, you will have to complete a specialized training program.
Maintain Certification
After becoming a certified pharmacy technician, you will have to renew your certification every two years. You will also require completing some hours of continued education (CE) before taking the re-certification exam.
For PTCB you are required to complete at least 20 CE hours, while for NHA you will require 10 CE hours.
Skills Technicians Need to Have
Pharmacy technician must listen to patients, their pharmacist and other health care providers to calibrate the best possible treatment. Attention to detail is important. Prescription errors are a major cause of avoidable death in the United States.
Technicians must also have ability to deal with intense pressure and workload. At times, pharmacies are busy with a huge influx of patients. So, to cope with the workload, you should be fast, vigilant and accurate at the same time.
You should be good at maths because you will require performing dose-related calculations. You will also be required to have a sound knowledge of using a computer because you will have to prepare the inventory, bills, etc. Also, keep in mind that many pharmacy technicians have a rotating duty of day and night because pharmacies are open 24/7.
If these are skills you have, then becoming a qualified pharmacy technician is something you should consider. There are 420,000 pharmacy technicians in the United States – and this statistic is rising with the ever-growing need for technicians and their professional expertise.