Pharmacy Technician Class Pharmacy Technician Certification & Training

As you probably already know if you’ve arrived at this site, the health care industry serves as one of the largest and most important roles in society today, and starting a career as a pharmacy technician or pharmacy aide can be a very rewarding career. What could be more important than playing a key role in helping people stay healthy?

As healthcare and pharmaceutical jobs become more competitive, recognition through certification is becoming much more common because employers like hospitals, assisted-living facilities, mail-order pharmacies, pharmaceutical wholesalers and the government rarely hire those who do not hold a pharmacy technician certification. This holds true today, even though only five states require certification.

Pharmacy Technician Class Overview

Below are several of our most popular resources for newcomers to the site. This list will be continually added to. Please reference the site navigation in the left sidebar for more article topics, a list of our most recent articles, and any other pharmacy tech related info you may be interested in.

• Pharmacy Technician Certification – Specific articles and how-to info on becoming a certified pharmacy technician, including the certification process, schools with certification programs, related coursework, state specific requirements, and much more.
• Pharmacy Technician Salary – If you’ve recently begun your journey into the pharmacy field, one of the first things you should consider is what your salary will be, which we discuss in detail here.
• Pharmacy Career News – Stay updated on pharmacy related news, various pharmacy specific career info, the pharmaceutical industry, prescription drug regulatory bodies, etc.
• Pharmacy Job Information – In depth updates and trends within the pharmacy field in general, with an emphasis on pharmacy specific jobs.
• Pharmacy Technician Jobs – If you’re on the lookout for a Pharmacist or Pharmacy Technician job, visit our job board, enter your area code and click submit.
• Pharmacy School Rankings – If you’re in high school, an undergrad, or even an existing Pharm technician or aide that wants to further their education and advance within the pharmacy field, our pharmacy school rankings page offers an excellent breakdown of the top pharmacy schools across the country.

Career Profile

Pharmacy technicians help licensed pharmacists with an most of the functions required to provide medication and a wide range of healthcare services to patients. They handle most of the tasks that happen behind the pharmacy counter on a daily basis, freeing up the pharmacist for the most urgent and important responsibilities, such as counseling patients on their medications.

Tasks performed by pharmacy techs include: preparing medications, counting tablets, labeling bottles, answering telephones, receiving prescriptions, cashiering activities, verifying prescriptions, conducting refill requests and much more. Additional responsibilities may also be required depending on the state regulations and the pharmacy setting or sector within the industry. Pharmacy techs working in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and hospitals may also have more duties specific to those settings. You can view our pharmacy technician overview for more in depth information.

Why A Pharmacy Career?

There are many reasons why a pharmacy technician job is one of the most desirable entry level positions to begin a career in pharmacy. Some include the following:

• Health services are one of the largest industries in the US, and is expected to grow by 31% by 2018 as projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Low barrier to entry – most jobs require less than 4 years of college education, and pharmacy technician certification is roughly 15 months in duration.
• About 50% of the top growth job sectors are in health services.

For those with existing experience or credentials, pharmacy career employment opportunities are regularly available on a full-time or part-time basis. Openings will result from increased need for technicians in retail pharmacies and other pharmacy settings, existing job turnover, an aging population, and several other contributing factors.

Insurance companies, pharmacies, and health systems who continue to keep an eye on overhead will continue to emphasize the importance of technicians. This will result in pharmacy techs assuming more of the routine work previously reserved for pharmacists. Pharmacy technicians will also need to adapt and learn new technologies in the pharmacy field as they continue to surface.