Like with most careers, it is important to network with other individuals and stay abreast of the current trends within the industry, and the pharmacy field is no different. Joining one or more associations within the pharmacy and pharmaceutical field provides pharmacy workers access to resources otherwise not available to them, such as continuing education, professional development programs, current events, seminars, professional certification programs, networking opportunities, conferences, survey findings and manuals – and other information covering the profession.

Each organization will require their own membership dues and fees, though discounts may be available for students or recent graduates.

Pharmacy Associations

American Association of Pharmacy Technicians – Information about the AAPT, with conference announcements and links to continuing education and certification prep sites for pharmacy technicians.

American Pharmaceutical Association – The American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) is a national professional society of pharmacists. The APhA has been around awhile and is the first established and largest professional association of pharmacists in the United States. Their website includes news and information about the APHA, links to FDA updates and drug recall announcements, plus online version of the association’s peer-reviewed.

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists – The ASHP is an organization representing pharmacists that are employed in hospitals, HMOs, long-term care facilities, and other parts of the health care system. Features the AHFS Drug Information site of a database of current drug information.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations – This organization evaluates and accredits health care programs in the United States pharmacy services considered in the evaluation. The site provides an overview of the JCAHOs programs.

National Association of Boards of Pharmacy – The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) is the only professional association that represents the state boards of pharmacy in all 50 United States. The site includes pharmacists licensure information and exam preparation.

United States Pharmacopeia – The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) establishes state-of-the-art standards to ensure the quality of medicines for human and veterinary use.

When considering a pharmacy career association to join, there are many considerations one should take – here is a list of some of the more important ones:

• Membership Fees – Membership to local pharmacy associations often cost much less than national associations.
• Membership Benefits – What does the association offer prospective or existing pharmacists and pharmacy technicians?
• Networking Opportunities – Networking opportunities are extremely important in numerous professions, including a pharmacy career.

In addition to pharmacy technician certification, consider the importance of networking for professional development. Paying for membership into one or more associations can definitely pay back in spades if properly utilized. Just take a look at all the organizations and associations in the email signature or business card of the most successful and fulfilled pharmacists or assistants. Usually, there is a direct correlation between one’s involvement in their profession and their success.

As Pharm.D. or pharmacy technician students, keeping up with your studies is sometimes difficult to do. Sometimes familiarizing yourself with various industry resource sites can help accelerate your learning curve and immerse you in the health care and medical services field.

Below are some authoritative health care resources. Be sure to bookmark these sites and peruse them on a periodic basis. Not only is formal education helpful to prepare you for success in the pharmacy profession, but self education is equally, if not more important. You don’t learn real world lessons in a classroom.

Food and Drug Administration – You can visit the Drugs link in the top left navigation for extensive information, such as drug approval lists (for FDA approved drugs), the National Drug Code Directory, drug regulations, and extensive links to over the counter (OTC) and prescription drug information.

National Institutes of Health – General health info and news about current medical developments

Center for Disease Control – Extensive information about health and disease, from the federal Center for Disease Center

MEDLINE – The Web site for the federal National Library of Medicine. Includes links to medical literature databases and consumer health information.

MEDLINEplus Medical Dictionary – Searchable medical dictionary offering extensive information from the National Institutes of Health.

Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy – Searchable, online version of the 17th (1999) edition of this general medical text. Widely considered to be the top authority resource on drugs.

SafeMedication.com – Website from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) featuring MedMaster, a searchable drug information database based on ASHP’s Medication Teaching Manual “The Guide to Patient Drug Information”. This site also includes drug administration information for patients.

By now, most of us have heard in the news about the Father’s Day incident on Long Island about the pharmacy murders, leaving two pharmacy employees victims of armed robbery as a result of a gunman attempting to obtain controlled substances for his wife.

Prior to that, there was a prominent news story about an Oklahoma pharmacist who had killed a man attempting to rob his pharmacy, only to be convicted of misconduct.

At that time there was yet another story about the Michigan pharmacist who fought back against some thieves during a middle of the night robbery, and who similarly killed them in an attempt to protect the pharmacy. As a result, the pharmacist was terminated.

In reaction to these events, New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced a plan requiring prescribers additional training before having the ability to prescribe narcotics like Vicodin and Percocet, also setting increased penalties for pharmacy robbers.

The White House also recently released a 10 page plan to prevent prescription drug abuse, calling for agencies such as the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) department to initiate extended opioids.

On April 19 the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) made a statement claiming prescription drug abuse is the “fastest growing drug problem” in the nation, citing data from the Substance Abue and Mental Health Services Administration, University of Michigan and the CDC. Included in this data was a statistic that nearly one-third of people aged 12 years and older who had first used drugs in 2009 have now began to abuse drugs with non-medical use. Prescription pain killers are second only to marijuana according to the data.

The plan focuses on 4 areas to control prescription drug abuse:

• education of parents, youth, patients, and health care providers
• Tracking and and monitoring prescription drug problems.
• Proper medication disposal with programs like DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back event on Apr 30
• Enforcement against doctor shopping and pill mills.

Pharmacies were mentioned periodically throughout the plan.

So the question is, how effective will plans like these be for curbing the prescription drug abuse and pharmacy robbery issues floating around in the news so much these days? Cast your opinion below in the comment form.

Just wanted to share the sad U.S. health care story with this sobering graphic below.

Feel free to share this page with anyone you wish!

Working for a hospital as a pharmacy technician is where the most money is, in fact, the salaries in hospitals are higher than any other area where pharmacy techs can work, such as retail chains, retirement centers, assisted living centers, etc. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), hospital pharmacy techs make a mean hourly wage of $15.73, which is $32,710 per year while most other pharmacy settings pay around $25,000 – $28,000 commensurate on experience and training/certification.

Doing some cursory research online in various forums indicates that most pharmacy technicians also prefer working in a hospital setting for this very reason. However, along with the increased salary there are additional responsibilities that aren’t present at other pharmacy settings.

For instance, hospital pharmacy technicians must have the ability to read patient charts and use them to assist in preparing patient prescriptions prior to a nurse administering them. Of course the pharmacist who will oversee the tech’s work will verify the accuracy of the prescription as well.

Hospital pharmacy techs also mix fluids like chemotherapy and feeding solutions for intravenous use. These medications are prepared by the technician in clean rooms or cabinets known as isolators, and then they are sent to the wards for doctors and nurses to administer. Accuracy is paramount since the slightest contamination or inaccuracy in the dose can be harmful or even fatal to the patients. So this requires good mechanical dexterity and a thorough command of sterile procedures and techniques.

Another responsibility for hospital techs is delivering medications to hospital nursing units so deliveries may be scheduled or unscheduled.

Lastly, hospital pharmacy techs do inventory management at the hospital. This includes removing expired medications, rotating stock, among other inventory control duties. They advise nurses on the correct storage of medicines, monitor expiration dates and discuss the changing needs of the wards with the nurses and staff. Carrying out these same responsibilities for other nursing units is another possible duty for the hospital pharmacy technician. Technicians also purchase medicines from pharmaceutical companies and wholesalers.

For these reasons, hospitals prefer techs with more experience, and a national certification through the PTCB. As stated above, most technicians who work in settings outside of hospitals don’t have as many responsibilities and as such aren’t paid as highly.

Still want to work as a hospital pharmacy tech? Be sure to check out the section of our site dedicated to pharmacy technician certification. Certification will get you one step closer to working in the hospital and making more money as a result.

For those of you already in another career, there are some practical steps and strategies that can be used to pursue a pharmacy technician job. This will require a mindset shift however, because you’re not used to adding more responsibilities on top of an already demanding schedule.

In this article, we’ll explore some practical ways for you to learn how to become a pharmacy technician, or shift your focus on the pharmacy industry, no matter what stage of your career you’re in. It’s really a matter of properly managing your time, and allocating one or two hours a day to study, on top of your regular job hours. Here’s are a few tips to help you out:

Take Your Time Making a Decision

Most people who pursue a career in pharmacy such as a pharmacist, or even a pharmacy technician, which only requires minimal training, are either in undergrad school, or have an existing job to pay the bills. Obviously the latter needs to be maintained while studying and applying for jobs in pharmacy.

However, in order to maintain an existing job while studying for pharmacy employment opportunities, you’ll need to really think about the additional workload and whether you’ll be able to handle it. It’s not easy adding one or two study hours to an existing full time job. Take some time to seriously consider the nature of work for pharmacy techs and the field of pharmacy in general. Starting a new career is no small endeavor and will take a significant amount of time for preparation alone, not to mention the time you’ll spend on a daily basis once you’re fully entrenched in a new pharmacy technician job. You may feel like a college student considering a major, but planning your new career and seriously reflecting on whether you can maintain your enthusiasm for the job is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Study Part Time

As stated above, adding a one or two hours of study time to your daily schedule isn’t easy, but there are several ways to make the process much easier. One of the most significant is enrolling in an online certification program. These online programs allow students to avoid much of the time required to physically attend classes on a consistent basis, and of course being self-paced, they allow students to schedule their own study schedule. The flexibility of these online pharmacy tech programs is enjoyed by tens of thousands of students every year.

Quit Your Existing Job

Of course for most people, building a small nest egg to cover bills, or possibly moving in with generous family and friends would be required to quit an existing job. But nonetheless, many take this option when making a career change. Most career counselors advise having at least 6 months to one years worth of savings before making a career change, or in the case of quitting an existing job without a new one already lined up.

Pursue a Pharmacy Job Directly After College Graduation

Those who are in the middle of studying for an existing degree, or who want to change their career path after recently graduating can still pursue a pharmacy career -this will simply cause a delay in graduating or entry into the job market. There is no shame in this whatsoever. We all make mistakes, and in the case where one no longer has an interest in their previous choice of study is nothing new. In fact, a huge percentage of people eventually wind up working in a career that has nothing to do with their choice of study. This is perhaps one of the flaws in our education system, we study something for 4 – 10 years (depending on the profession) BEFORE getting job experience that will enable us to make a lasting career decision. This is why it’s my opinion that the old apprenticeship model is superior to the traditional education model in many ways.

Of course I’m a bit biased, but in my opinion, becoming a pharmacy technician is an excellent career choice. As the U.S. population as a whole becomes older, including the enormous baby boomer generation, the pharmacy, pharmaceutical, and health care industry at large will continue to grow tremendously – and this shines a bright light on those who earn their pharmacy technician certification. But what if you have a very busy life, making it very difficult, if not impossible to physically attend classes on a consistent basis? There is a simple solution – don’t give up your desire to become a pharmacy tech. There are many institutions that offer online pharmacy tech certification programs. Let’s discuss the benefits of obtaining your pharmacy tech certificate through online schools for pharmacy.

Getting your certification through online program is similar to that of on on campus class where you are required to physically attend. The coursework and curriculum is the same – you still have to study, do homework, and take tests (depending on the class and school). However, there are some particularly attractive advantages to online programs.

Obviously the most significant advantage is that you don’t need to physically attend your classes while navigating through rush hour every day, you just login to your computer on your own schedule. This is not to say you don’t have to complete the necessary study requirements obviously!

So along the same lines as the first benefit, flexibility is another advantage to online pharmacy technician training programs. If you’ve got lots of other responsibilities, such as family, or even another full time job, you’ve got options – you don’t have to strictly adhere to a class schedule.

Online pharmacy technician certification programs may be cheaper since the school doesn’t have to commit the classroom, and overhead requirements. Further, most of your study materials will be in digital format, so you won’t need to shell out tons of money for books you’ll never use again most likely. And of course you’ll save money on gas since you won’t have a daily or weekly commute.

Another huge benefit is that you’ll have email and phone access to your instructor (again, depending on the class and school policy). You certainly can’t get that when you’re just one of 50+ students in a classroom setting.

Most online learning programs are self paced, so if you have a particular efficiency with part of the coursework, you can put that material in your memory banks while paying more attention to the aspects of the course you may not be as comfortable with.

How To Choose Online Pharmacy Programs

Before choosing an online pharmacy technician program you need to research many things. One of the most important things to make sure of is that the online pharmacy technician program you choose adheres to your state requirements, and that you find an accredited pharmacy technician school. That way, if needed you can transfer credits toward a more advanced degree or certification.

Tip: To make sure the school you’re looking into meets your requirements, try to interview past attendees – ask them about their experience and whether the curriculum adequately prepared them for the job.

You may want to look for internships at local pharmacies so you can get experience, along with your pharmacy technician certification. That way you can learn the ropes and get hands on experience working for a practicing pharmacist. Many pharmacy tech employers (especially the box box stores like CVS and Walgreens) like seeing experience along with credentials.

If you prefer not to work in a retail pharmacy environment, be sure to seek out internships at other pharmacy settings, such as hospitals, nursing care centers, assisted living centers, etc. That way it will directly apply to the jobs you apply and interview for.

Once you pass all your classes, you’ll be eligible to take the state certification exam. Don’t worry too much about passing the test during the first attempt as it can be taken as many times as needed for you to pass After obtaining your certification, you’ll need to complete 20 hours of continuing education to renew it every 2 years.

As you can see, there are plenty of advantages of online pharmacy technician schools. The most significant being the time and money savings. They are an excellent alternative for the busy individual who likes to choose their own schedule and work at their own pace.

As you prepare for your pharmacy technician certification exam, you may be wondering how well you’ll really do, or if you’ll even pass! That feeling is quite normal, and in fact a good thing, because it will motivate you to continue studying.

What can be done to maximize your chances of passing and wind up doing well on the exam?

Here are some tips that can help you prepare for your pharmacy technician certification.

Addend Your Classes

The pharmacy technician certification exam includes some knowledge of math, law, etc, but there’s no substitute for attending your classes. While most of the knowledge required can be obtained through study guides, books, websites, etc, your experiential training will provide the most benefit.

Don’t Procrastinate

When it comes to learning new information and ideas, procrastinating before studying is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. If you establish a regular daily or weekly study routine and start early in the class, you won’t have the pressure of cramming one or two weeks before your exam. Also, make a habit of thoroughly absorbing the current week’s material in your books before moving on. Reading through a chapter multiple times while highlighting and taking notes in the margins is my preferred way to really absorb new information.

Start or Join a Study Group

Collaberation is one of the most effective tools for learning. Starting or joining a study group allows you to put more heads together and absorb material much faster and more thoroughly. Study groups also hold group members accountable to each other. If members need something from one another, its harder to let each other down.

Free Your Schedule

Freeing your schedule during exam week allows you to focus on your studying and reviewing of your study guides. The last thing you want to do is your pharmacy technician exam with the rest of your schedule of things to do. So do the best you can to free up that week, take care of the kids, skip the extracurricular activities, etc, so that your focus is sharp.

Review Your Study Materials

Be sure to review your book, study guides, and practice exams. If you need some book suggestions for helping you prepare for the exam, be sure to see our page on recommended pharmacy technician exam study guides and books.

Get Lots of Sleep and Nutrition

You don’t want to miss any sleep or meals before the exam. Your mind and body need to be in the best shape possible, and lack of sleep or nutrition are two huge contributors to that “foggy” head people get sometimes.

If you take this advice, you’ll be well on your way to passing, or even acing your pharmacy technician exam.

If you’d like to minimize the time expense while maximizing your effectiveness when studying for the Pharmacy Technician exam, here are some great resources I’ve managed to compile from wading through several online forums and “answers” websites.

Apparently a lot of people looking into the pharmacy tech profession, and even techs that aren’t yet certified but have jobs at CVS, Walgreens, etc are looking for exam study materials.

Study Guides and Books

These were the four books that were continually recommended as I scoured the various pharmacy tech boards. I’m sure there are a ton more that aren’t on this list…

Concise Review for the PTCB Exam – Christopher Ardoin
Concise Review for the PTCB Exam is a comprehensive approach to preparing for the pharmacy technician certification exam. It does not try to cover every aspect about the field of pharmacy. Rather, it targets the information that is relevant to the certification exam. The text includes drug information, test-taking strategies, examples and practice questions that will prepare a student to pass the test the first time. . Instruction in all test areas: math, law, hospital, drug information. Contains strategies you MUST know to ace the exam.

Reference Guide for Pharmacy Technician Exam (PTCE) – Manan H Shroff
Reference Guide for Pharmacy Technician Exam is a resourceful practice guide for preparation of PTCB exam. It has more than 500 questions with answers & complete explanations. It includes 1000 drugs description. It provides complete exercise on commonly asked calculations in exam. It includes practice test too!

Pharmacy Technician Certification Review And Practice Exam – Linda Fred
The Pharmacy Technician Certification Review and Practice Exam comes packaged with the new TechPrep CD! TechPrep contains more than 1,000 review questions to help readers prepare for national technician certification exams. A robust Practice Session feature allows users to create custom quizzes by setting topic area, time, and number of questions. The Simulated Exam function lets readers practice their test skills by providing a 90 minute, 120 questions test, with questions weighted to mimic national certification exams.

Mosby’s Pharmacy Technician: Principles and Practice (with CD-Rom) – Theresa Hopper
This reliable resource presents a thorough and concise presentation of basic pharmacology. Written at the appropriate level for pharmacy technician students in any type of programs and for those being trained on the job, it features a full color design that fully engages the reader along with many unique features that make learning more interesting and more meaningful.

Resource Sites

Also, this website below is specifically for pharmacy techs and offers a great review manual and workbook for those preparing for the national exam. It also includes FREE email support. Also Pharmacy Technician SPECIFIC CE for those already certified.

• Tech Lectures

This list will be continually updated, but the above pharmacy technician exam resources should do the job for now. Good luck on the exam!

Pennsylvania state pharmacy technicians may be required to be registered and certified by the state Board of Pharmacy to practice if House Bill 320 gets passed.

Rep. Anthony DeLuca introduced the bill six years ago with 13 other state representatives after getting word that one of his constituents had a mother who was given a prescription that was filled with the wrong pills – thankfully this constituent noticed the error prior to giving her the medication. But had he, she would have suffered serious, and possibly fatal consequences.

As DeLuca told the Pennsylvania general assembly in 2010:

“Requiring the standardization, training and registration of someone who takes part in the process of filling prescriptions as this bill does is only common sense. Errors cost money and they cost lives.”

Working pharmacy technicians would have a 2 year grace period to get registered and certified. To comply with the grace period, pharmacy technicians would have to submit proof of certification, being registered or licensed in a different state, or being employed for a minimum of 2,000 working hours in the three years before the bill became law.

Pennsylvania is one of eight states without pharmacy technician registration, licensing or training requirements. HB 320 has passed the state House of Representatives but is deadlocked in the Senate according to DeLuca.