Pharmacy Technician Training

One of the ways to obtain formal professional certification is to pass the ExCPT pharmacy technician test, provided by the Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians. You should definitely learn more about the exam and prepare as best as possible.

You have to know what material the exam will cover. The basic components are Regulations and Technician Duties, Drugs and Drug Products and the Dispensing Process. These modules cover all the fundamental knowledge a technician must have from drug classification and controlled substances to reading prescription information and preparing prescription medications. Read the rest of this entry »

Obtaining professional certification will increase your chances of finding a job and allow you to negotiate a higher salary. That is why you need to prepare for the certification exam extremely well. One of the materials that every student is recommended to use for preparation is a pharmacy technician study guide. Since you have a range of books to select from, you will certainly need some helpful advice to make your task easier.

Choose the pharmacy technician study guide that is relevant to the exam, which you plan to take. The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board has not endorsed any exam prep materials, but some guides are mentioned in the bibliography, on which the test questions are based. You can readily consider getting these materials. Still, it might be a better idea to go over the exam content first and compare it to the content of the book, which you plan to purchase to make sure they match. In addition, you might ask your course instructor for advice on which book to use. Read the rest of this entry »

Having a formal educational qualification will help you find a well paid job much easier and faster. There are a lot of pharmacy technician schools to select from. You simply need to pick the one that offers a good program and is convenient for you to attend.

The program you want to sign up for is the first factor to consider. You can choose between certificate, diploma and associate’s degree programs. The duration can be from 6 months to 2 years, depending on the nature of the course. This is a personal decision to make in line with your career development expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

You would certainly like to know how much you will earn when starting work. The best way to get relevant information is to look at the pharmacy technician salary statistical data. It provides country averages, but the numbers present accurately the actual pay rates.

The mean hourly wage in the sector is currently $13.92. The mean annual pharmacy technician salary is $28,940. The lowest hourly wage is approximately $9.36, while the highest is higher than $19.31. This means that as such a professional you can earn between $19,480 and $40,160 per year. Your remuneration will depend on a lot of factors, including your level of education, our professional certification and work experience. In general, you can expect a pay rate lower than the average, if you are just beginning your career. Read the rest of this entry »

It might seem that the job market for pharmacy technicians is tight, but this is definitely not the case. The number of pharmacy technician job openings is increasing ever day and according to experts it will grow by approximately 31% in the following eight to ten years. For this reason, you simply need to act smartly in order to find a well paid position quickly.

The easiest way to find new pharmacy technician job openings is to check out the websites dedicated to posting pharmacy technician job ads. These are not many, so it will be easy for you to find them and to check them on a daily basis. This is important, if you want to be among the first to spot a new ad.

In general, it is worth expanding your search for vacancies by including some general job ad websites and ones for employment in health care. Check these regularly as well. You should not hesitate to post your resume on these sites as well. This will automatically present you to employers looking to hire workers.

You should be active in your employment search. This is crucial for success. Make a list of all retail stores with pharmacies, drug stores and hospitals in your area of residence. The research will certainly pay off. Then you can readily visit their websites or contact them personally to find out whether they have vacancies. Even if you are not lucky to find a place, you should send them your resume, after speaking to a representative of the human resources department. Read the rest of this entry »

You will earn a good salary and work in a clean well-organized environment, as a pharmacy technician. It is perfectly natural for you to want to get these benefits. However, it is worth learning more about the duties of such professionals, before you make a final choice. Use this pharmacy technician job description to decide.

The main duty of a technician is to aid a pharmacist in their work. On the job, you will be responsible for handling prescriptions. You will have to receive them, read them and prepare the medications for patients. You will pick the right drug, count tablets and place them in containers. You will add prescription and instruction labels to the containers. All this will be done under the supervision of a pharmacist. Read the rest of this entry »

You should definitely have an idea of the existing pharmacy technician employment opportunities, even if you have not begun your training yet. In fact, this is one of the main factors that should determine your choice of profession. The good news is that the job prospects for pharmacy technicians are great. You simply need to find out more about the different options.

You can either work in retail or hospital setting. The statistics show that approximately 75% of professionals work in retail setting. This means that your chance of finding a job in a hospital is significantly smaller, especially if you have just completed your training. Despite this, you should consider the pros and cons for working in a health care facility. Read the rest of this entry »

It is important for all professionals to expand their knowledge and improve their skills, even after they start working. There are a number of options for pharmacy technician continuing education. You should consider your need of such courses and find out more about their nature and availability.

It is a matter of personal choice to have pharmacy technician continuing education or not. Professionals who are Certified Pharmacy Technicians (CPhT) are required to have at least 20 clock hours of such education for a period of two years. This is a mandatory requirement for the renewal of the professional certification. Read the rest of this entry »

Becoming a professional in any field is not an easy task. That is why you should not expect pharmacy technician classes to be particularly easy. However, this should not put you off studying to become a professional in the pharmaceutical industry. You should definitely learn more about the subjects you will study, the different forms of training and the role of the instructors.

The pharmacy terminology is not a particularly difficult subject, but you will have to study hard to memorize all the terms you will use in your work. Pharmaceutical calculations and techniques require you to be good in math as well as to have good communication skills. Still, you do not have to have much preliminary knowledge and skills, as you will be taught the most important aspects of these subjects in class. Despite the common misconception, pharmacy law and ethics is not a simple subject. It covers a wide range of knowledge areas and requires serious studying. Read the rest of this entry »

The best way to prepare for a certification exam is to study hard and to get some practice. You can readily find a pharmacy technician certification practice test and use it effectively. Here are some practical tips that will help you with both aspects.

Before you start looking for a pharmacy technician certification practice test, you need to make sure that you know which exam you will be taking. The PCTE offered by PCTB is the most popular examination, so you are more likely to find prep materials for it. If you will be taking the other exam, ExCPT, you need to check explicitly that you get the right materials. Read the rest of this entry »

You can become a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT), after passing successfully the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE). This test is developed and administered by the PTCB (the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board). You can register for the test online and take it in a testing center upon verification that you meet the eligibility criteria. The cost of testing is currently $129.

The Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam is computer based. It consists of 90 multiple choice questions. 80 of them count towards your evaluation and 10 are for internal use. These 10 questions are randomly spread and will not count towards your grade. Each question has 4 possible answers with only one of them being correct or best. You have 2 hours to go over the exam tutorial and complete the test and the exist survey. Read the rest of this entry »

It is possible for every professional to become a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT), provided that they meet the eligibility criteria and pass the respective examination. Such a credential is currently provided by two professional organizations with one of them being the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB). It is worth learning more about the organization and the certification it provides.

PTCB was established in 1995 and is governed by five professional associations, with the most notable ones being the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American Pharmacists Association. The organization has developed and administers a certification program accredited by the National Commission of Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Read the rest of this entry »

In the past, it was possible for pharmacy technicians to receive sufficient training on the job. Now employers look for workers with educational qualifications and, possibly, professional certification. That is why it is a good idea to sign up for a training course and sit a certification exam. In order to do well in both, you will need a set of pharmacy technician books.

There are no set standards for pharmacy technician training. This means that each program uses different pharmacy technician books. For this reason, you should buy only study materials, specifically mentioned in your course’s curriculum. In fact, in many cases you will not need to spend extra money on these materials. Many programs have the cost of books added to the main fee. You can also take advantage of the materials available in the library of the school you are attending. Read the rest of this entry »

It is now possible to obtain professional educational qualifications quickly and conveniently. You can readily pick a full time, part time or online pharmacy technician course. You can choose its duration and the type of credentials you want to obtain. These are all individual factors to consider. The more important thing is to ensure that you will get good quality education.

The first thing to check is whether the pharmacy technician course you choose will allow you to obtain a license from your local State Board of Pharmacy. It should be pointed out that there are no national or state regulations that educational programs have to abide by. In addition, every state has different licensure requirements and procedures. That is why it is essential for you to check with the State Board of Pharmacy first and then compare the features of the program with the relevant requirements. Read the rest of this entry »

Many students prefer to study from home, especially if they are currently working or taking care of their children. You can readily enroll in an online pharmacy course to earn a certificate, diploma or an associate’s degree. All you have to do is make the right choice among the many programs available at present.

It is important for the online pharmacy technician course you pick to allow you to meet the licensure requirements of your State Board of Pharmacy. It should be pointed out that some states require you to have a high school diploma only, while others have strict education criteria. It is also a good idea for the program to offer some basic preparation for the professional certification examinations. Read the rest of this entry »

The first step, and most of the time, the key to a successful job interview is the appearance and mainly the content of your resume. Here are some pharmacy technician resume tips that can help you gain an advantage over other candidates.

The first thing you have to do is find a template for your pharmacy technician resume. You should be able to easily locate the perfect template on the internet, there are numerous sites that offer templates for free. Finding one that has the official logo of pharmacy, the green cross or the green snake will surely make a good impression on the employer. Read the rest of this entry »

Becoming a professional pharmacy technician is not difficult anymore. There is no need to register for a proper classroom training to pass the certification examination. There are a number of professional schools and institutes who are ready to offer you the online pharmacy tech course. There are no stringent eligibility criteria for seeking admission to a online pharmacy training course. The basic qualifications being met, it is relatively easy to apply for the course. The fees for these courses are reasonable too. In view of the growing demand for certified pharmacy technicians in the US, most institutes and colleges are now offering the pharmacy tech courses to those who are eager to study pharmacy techniques. Read the rest of this entry »

With the invention of the computer and the rapid expansion of the internet, the world has definitely become a better place to live in. For instance, you can do virtually anything online. One of these online achievements is the online pharmacy technician course that is being offered by most pharmacy schools and colleges. These courses are no less than the conventional classroom courses that we normally have. In the first place, a classroom study will require the student to be present during the tenure of the course irrespective of whether some of the syllabus is easy for him or not. So, even if he finds a specific part of the syllabus easier than the remaining part, he or she cannot skip and jump across to the difficult part. Of course the student should be given the liberty of doing so. But in a classroom environment this is simply not possible. Read the rest of this entry »

There are two types of pharmacy technicians, one who are professionally qualified and the other who has on the job practical experience.  The professional technician gets jobs in good pharmacological companies, hospitals, day care centers and multi brand pharmacy stores whereas the second category of technicians are employed with the mid-range pharmacists/local pharmacist and may also find openings in various government run centers throughout US. A pharmacy technician’s salary is entirely dependent on the ability and the skills of the technician to exhibit his knowledge of the trade. Read the rest of this entry »

Pharmacy technicians are those people who assist the pharmacist in the management of the store. Their job includes keeping an inventory of the medicines in the store, preparation of specialized medicines as per prescriptions, packing, sealing and labeling of the correct medicines in the bottles, and managing the day to day affairs of the store. This may not appear as a professional white collar job to some, but apart from handling big stores, pharmacy technicians have etched a place for themselves in big multinational pharmacological units and multispecialty hospitals as well. The question that would very obviously come in one’s mind is how to become a pharmacy technician. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many ways of becoming a pharmacy technician. You can either get on the job training by a Pharmacist assisting the pharmacist at the store in preparing medicines as prescribed by the doctor, or you can enroll in a professional institute to get to the basics.  A classroom approach to the pharmacy technician’s course is good because it gives you the formal training that you need to succeed. There is a systematic routine to follow, a discipline to be maintained and above all a syllabus to be completed. In the Pharmacy Technician class, you have many people moving along with the same expectations and objectives in life. You would have a group of teacher s and trainers who would be instructing you on how to go about the course in the best possible way so that you pass with flying colors. Read the rest of this entry »

Generally, a pharmacy technician begins his careers at the hands of a pharmacist. The pharmacy technician requirements are mostly the same with all pharmacists. Initially, they are required to sort out medicines and label bottles with a good amount of skill and dexterity in their work. They are required to maintain the files and the records of the medicines sold by the pharmacist and to keep a stock record of all medicines so that the pharmacist is never in a no stock situation. All pharmacy technicians have to do these jobs to get to learn the main job of a pharmacist. Over a period of time the pharmacy technician masters the art of inventory management and maintaining book records of receipts and issues. He follows the pharmacist’s advice as closely as he can because he longs to rise over the present designation and be a senior pharmacist technician. Read the rest of this entry »

Beyond the shadow of doubt, a pharmacy technician’s job is very much rewarding and so are his earnings. The pharmacy technicians’ salaries are quite lucrative as well as reasonable too. This is mainly because of the multifarious jobs that a technician does in a retail store. The pharmacy technician has to prepare the exact medicines as per the prescriptions of the doctors. Usually it is the pharmacist who in charge to prepare the medicines himself, but over time, with pharmacy technicians gaining seniority the medicine preparation is also skillfully handled by them as well. In fact, the junior pharmacy technician, who joined the pharmacy as a novice, soon graduates to handle the entire store himself under.  In case, you name him a medicine, he can tell you within a split of a second accuracy whether the medicine is available in the shelves of the store or not.

Naturally the pharmacy technicians’ salaries are also in line with the demanding requirements of the nature of their jobs. In the United States, it ranges from anything between $9 an hour to $18 an hour on an average with exceptionally bright employees getting exceptional salaries over the $25 mark per hour too. Generally, all the US states have their own grades and salary bands for these technicians. There are no federal law restrictions as to the upper or lower ceiling for salaries to be fixed or paid to pharmacy technicians.

Now, the question is which company actually offers high pharmacy technician salaries? However, it is very difficult to pinpoint which specific pharmacological company or retail pharmacy pays the highest salary to their technicians. There is, however, one small bench marking done as a matter of professional prudence. The companies hiring pharmacy technicians who have passed the Examinations held by the Pharmacy Technicians Certification Board and the Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians offer very attractive as well as lucrative salaries. Moreover, it has been found that on the whole professionally qualified pharmacists having cleared the exams held by the above bodies are well placed in their careers as far as salaries and other perquisites are concerned.

However, just a heads up of the salaries of pharmacy technicians as per statistics available for the year 2007 – California topped the list with a mean annual salary range of around $35K + while Alabama hovered around $23K.

To be a certified pharmacy technician, it is necessary for the person to pass the pharmacy technician test. These tests are conducted by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board. Once a person is successful in the test he is authorized to use the CPhT designation. However, the technicians are required to pass and clear another recertification examination which is a twenty hour continuous education program. This is to be done within the following two years of the original examination or the earlier recertification examination. It does not take too much to clear these examinations. However to clear the test, there are a few simple tips that must be kept in mind. Read the rest of this entry »

A pharmacy technician is a person who handles the pharmacy with ease and with the knowledge expected from a professional at his job. The pharmacy technician is the best support to the pharmacist who is busy handling prescriptions and preparing medicines as per the doctor’s advice. A pharmacy technician work is not wishfully easy as it may appear to be to some persons. It requires a lot of skill and expertise in handling the job and is not suitable for anyone wanting to do it out of sheer need. To become a pharmacy technician one has to have the eagerness of learning the pharmacist’s job as well. A pharmacy technician is not only the best support for the pharmacist, he is also the doctor’s ‘right hand man’. He has to know all the pharmacological terms and formulas, and get a hang of the legal requirements. Read the rest of this entry »