Choose The Pharmacy Technician Career

The pharmacy technician career is an exciting career. As a technician, the person works shoulder to shoulder with a licensed pharmacist. Approximately 71 percent of the pharmacy technicians work in places such as department stores, retail pharmacies, mass retailers and grocery stores.

Do you know what a pharmacy technician’s job includes? Their job responsibilities often depend on where they work. A general overview is that they always work under a licensed pharmacist, and they help patients with their health care and medication needs.

You can help the pharmacist fill prescriptions that doctors have ordered. This may include labeling bottles, counting pills or mixing medicine. You might also do things such as attend the cash register, answer the phone or stock shelves.

If you should choose to work in a mail order or retail pharmacy, your job would include other responsibilities. You would receive first time prescriptions or refills doctors have ordered directly from the patients or electronically from the doctor’s office.

Once those prescriptions arrive the technician is responsible for verifying that they are complete and accurate. You would help in the preparation by getting the medicine into the proper bottle, labeling it, adding the price and filing it so it can be found quite easily when the patient comes to get it, or it is ready to be mailed. In these situations you might be needed to fill out insurance claim forms or to help with inventory.

Pharmacy technicians never have to worry about their work environment. It will always be in well lighted, clean and comfortable areas. This job does require you to be on your feet a lot, climb ladders and lift heavy boxes.

Your schedule, as a pharmacy technician, can be quite variable and will mainly depend on the type of establishment you work for. You could be asked to work days, evenings, nights, weekends or holidays. This is especially true if you work in a place that is open 24 hours. As with any job, you will have more control over your hours, the more time you work in a place. There is also part time work available in retail or hospitals.

Formal training is not necessary to become a pharmacy technician. Most of them are trained on the job by a licensed pharmacist. If they decide to become certified, they can take a two and a half month course that will prepare them for the certification exam.

If you are good in mathematics, can follow orders exactly and love to work with people, becoming a pharmacy technician may be something you would enjoy. Salaries range between $10 and $17 during the first 10 years. You won’t lack for a job in this career.

Pharmacy technician duties are growing and so are the needs of pharmacy technician employment. If you are interested in a rewarding Pharmacy Technician Career then check out my site with lots of information on Pharmacy Technician Training Tips.