Pharmacy technician’s job is to help the pharmacist prepare prescription medication, do such administrative duties, count pills, put labels on bottles, customer service work like registering and filing insurance claims of patients.
In some other cases, they are allowed to take oral prescription orders from a medical doctor over the phone. For the administrative duties, he does the answering of telephones and greeting customers, jotting down patient’s personal background including medical history and insurance accounts, and take oral prescription orders from a medical doctor by phone. They work under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist but they should have completed the accredited training program even if they receive on the job training.
In some other cases, they are allowed to take oral prescription orders from a medical doctor over the phone. For the administrative duties, he does answering the telephone and greeting customers, jotting down patient’s personal background including medical history and insurance accounts, and take oral prescription orders from a medical doctor by phone.
Pharmaceutical products are found in hospitals, drugstores, doctor’s office, and clinics. It is a billion dollar business used as medication and licensed by developers, researchers, and manufacturers. Nowadays pharmaceutical companies keep growing in number and so there is a wide opportunity for pharmacist and pharmacy technicians to be employed. Pharmacy technician jobs require fewer years in school than a pharmacist. To become a certified pharmacy technician, one must have at least seven (7) months training taken from a technical college and later applied for a state license to be certified pharmacy technician.
Pharmacy technicians are paid on an hourly basis of $10.95 to $15.88 an hour with the annual salary of $19,177 to $28,703. The U.S. Department of Labor gauge that about 326,000 of pharmacy technicians in the United States 75% are employed in retail setting and about 16% in the hospitals. This number is expected to increase by 25% by 2018.
PT Career Options
There are many pharmacy technician career options for you to consider:
• Hospitals Pharmacy – hospital pharmacy technician job is to gather, dispense and administer the medicine by looking at the manufacturer’s supplies then choose the right medicine for the patient and label it as prescribed.
• Military and Emergency Pharmacy Technician’s job – has a more demanding job in that they are in-charge in reading the physician’s prescription and determine which type of drugs to prepare and determine and organize shipments of these medications.
• Community Pharmacy Technician job – is similar to the hospital pharmacist in that they label and dispense the medicine prescribed to the patient. They are also qualified to discuss how to use creams, cosmetics and over-the-counter medicine and provide help in nursing homes such as oxygen for the patient.
Memorizing drug names and indications should be considered by the pharmacy technician. They assist the pharmacist but cannot in any position do medical judgment. Pharmacy technician work 40 hours a week and their duties are even extended on evenings and weekends.
Pharmacy technician who wish to become pharmacist must earn a bachelor’s degree. Pharmacy technicians are found wherever prescription medication is dispensed or sold. Pharmacy technician and Pharmacist are interdependent in nature and they are familiar in the field of drugs. If you are organized, responsible, alert and want to work as a pharmacy technician this job is for you. You must have good communication skills, you are willing to follow directions and be a team player. If you are still in high school, strengthen you communication skills, math, science, or health related subjects. Get formal training in a community college or hospitals that cover practical and academic applications so that you will have a greater chance at getting employed. Most of the training courses include subjects in pharmacy law, ethics, terminology, record keeping and techniques, and get certified by taking the National Certification exam before you get employment. Since you will receive prescription or secure proper medication and keep the patient’s record, you should be meticulous in your duties.
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