Pharmacy Technician Salary, Jobs, Certification

If you are considering a career as a pharmacy technician you may want to hone in on a few key skills; attention to detail, accuracy, as well as customer resolution and customer relation skills. When thinking about a career you might fit well in this field if you can also fill in the following blanks involved with the pharmacy technician job.  There are several advantages to becoming a pharmacy technician; flexible scheduling hours, having a stable career, and watching medical advancements right in front of you.

One thing to remember is the fact that depending on the type of facility you work for your  pharmacy technician job description may vary. To be more specific; pharmacy technicians who work in hospitals or pharmacies have different job directives then someone working in a mail-order fulfillment center. Also, those working in nursing homes, or full time care facilities may very well have completely different job objectives.

There are basic duties that will be included within all  pharmacy technician jobs, and they are ones that you will need to be very familiar with.

• You will be responsible for receiving and verifying all prescriptions coming into and leaving the pharmacy
• You will be getting prescriptions ready for customers; this includes mixing medicine, counting pills, and labeling bottles
• You will also be pricing and labeling prescriptions for customers
• You will need to remember to obtain approval from the pharmacist before releasing prescriptions
• You will need to keep all patient information in order and up to date
• You will need to process insurance claims and verify funding from insurance agencies
• You will need to stock medication and keep very detailed inventory records

Some of these responsibilities may vary depending on whether you work in retail pharmacy or not. The  pharmacy technician job description for retail pharmacies might also include stocking over the counter medications as well as acting as a cashier. Sometime the jobs of the pharmacy assistant tend to overlap those of the pharmacy technician. So, just be prepared for the requests of you to change on a regular basis, given what the pharmacist needs at that particular moment.

There are a few very important things to remember however; unless you are working within a patient care facility you should not be reading patient charts, or preparing or delivering medication for consumption. This is something very important to keep in mind.

This might seem like a lot to keep in mind, but trust me when you are going after a career that you love, it is all worth it. I just thought giving an honest opinion of what to expect would be great. That way there are no surprises either. I would hate to enroll in a course and think it is going to be a breeze and find out otherwise, when it is to late. When you make the decision and take the  pharmacy technician job description seriously then you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are ready to register and begin your career.

I am not in the business of yanking anyone out of their dream career. However, if you are anticipating riches and glory by becoming a pharmacy technician, you may want to rethink the salary. The average American pharmacy technician salary is basically in the range of $30k a year. Now, I know that is nothing to sneeze at, especially if you live along or if you have no children to care for. It is of course easier to care for one, than many. Now, having said that, there are ways to make more money in this field. Working as a pharmacy tech you will undoubtedly have opportunities to work on weekends. Because normally the techs take the odd hours, which allow for a swing shift rate in most cases.

There are a few suggestions I would personally make to someone who just has their heart set on working in the pharmacy industry.

• There is a rise in the demand for pharmacy technicians nationwide. However, stick with hospitals. And especially newer modeled hospitals that have a specialty about them.
• Memorization is key! Working as a pharmacy technician is an abundance of memorization. You are someone’s assistant and you need to be at the top of your game.
• Understand if you want to increase your pharmacy technician salary, you will need to increase your hours or your expected duties.
• Take advantage of the education and extended certification you can acquire. Such as the ExCPT pharmacy exam. These particular degrees are issued by the ICPT, better known as the NHA.

This last decision seems like it is the hardest one for any one person to make. How will they acquire their degree? How do you plan on going through the certification process? Are you going to be enrolling in online courses or attending local courses in your hometown? This could very well be the most important decision you make regarding your possible new career choice. In many cases once you choose, you can not swap or change your mind if it does not work for you. Map out your lifestyle and make a decision on whether or not local in class teachings will be the best bet for you, or do you take courses online and work at your own pace?

Any career is important to the one studying for it, no matter how it seems to appear to someone else. If you choose to tell your banker father and surgical professor mother that you want to be a pharmacy technician, they will probably raise some eyebrows about it. But if you explain how you plan on working hard, attending classes, and that the pharmacy technician salary is enough to carry you to the next level of your career, I am sure they will back you 100% just for you wanting to do it to. Making sure that you emphasize on the fact that you are not stopping at a pharmacy technician, that you do plan on furthering your career.