Jane Fern's Pharmacists Guide
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pharmacy Technician - Career Opportunity Today and Tomorrow
by Scott Knutson
Pharmacy technicians are in demand today and the job outlook for the foreseeable future is simply outstanding. In fact, any pharmacology based occupation will certainly be wide open and ever growing for years and years. With the oldest of the baby boomers getting ready to retire and with people living longer than ever before there is no simply no way to go wrong with a career in pharmacology. Pharmacy technicians are currently in high demand and jobs are opening up faster than they can be filled and due to the fact there can be as many as four technicians aiding one single pharmacist… well, you get the picture.
Initially, pharmacy technician students are required to follow the same educational and training path that pharmacists travel except their training stops short of having to complete a full fledged PharmD degree.
Although the pay is less than a pharmacist, a highly qualified pharmacy technician can still make a respectable living in a rewarding and challenging career.
Like a pharmacist, pharmacy technicians also serve patients but in most pharmacies they report directly to the pharmacist. A pharmacy technician has duties that are both challenging and rewarding.
Overall, the duties of pharmacy technician are pretty consistent regardless of their place of employment which can range from the traditional pharmacy to hospitals and clinics to mail order pharmacies.
The workplace options are another appealing aspect to a pharmacy technician career. The breakdown in workplace options is roughly like this. About 70% of pharmacy technician jobs are currently in retail pharmacies which includes both chain store pharmacies and independently owned pharmacies.
Another 20% of pharmacy technician jobs are located in hospitals and the rest are scattered throughout clinics, wholesale and mail order pharmacies.
A few of the most important skills a pharmacy technician needs to master are people skills, organization, the ability to focus and perform under a wide variety of pressure situations, multi-tasking, the ability to work independently and a knack to handle it all with a smile.
These skills and character traits enables your supervising pharmacist to have the confidence that you can handle all types of situations and the ability to delegate whatever task needs to be done and that you'll get it done and done right.
In addition to having a good working relationship with your supervising pharmacist, as a pharmacy technician you will also be required to interact on a daily basis with patients, pharmacist aids and other healthcare professionals. As a result, teamwork is another vital aspect any highly trained pharmacy technician.
As a pharmacy technician your daily duties can vary greatly and can range from verifying the accuracy of prescriptions, labeling bottles, inventory, interacting with patients, database management and whatever the supervising pharmacist needs done.
Although working in a clean, controlled work environment is nice, it's certainly not the primary factor that appeals to those interested in becoming a pharmacy technician but it's simply another one of those subtle benefits of this ever growing career in the healthcare industry.
Article Source:http://www.century21rx.com/article16.html
Pharmacy technicians are in demand today and the job outlook for the foreseeable future is simply outstanding. In fact, any pharmacology based occupation will certainly be wide open and ever growing for years and years. With the oldest of the baby boomers getting ready to retire and with people living longer than ever before there is no simply no way to go wrong with a career in pharmacology. Pharmacy technicians are currently in high demand and jobs are opening up faster than they can be filled and due to the fact there can be as many as four technicians aiding one single pharmacist… well, you get the picture.
Initially, pharmacy technician students are required to follow the same educational and training path that pharmacists travel except their training stops short of having to complete a full fledged PharmD degree.
Although the pay is less than a pharmacist, a highly qualified pharmacy technician can still make a respectable living in a rewarding and challenging career.
Like a pharmacist, pharmacy technicians also serve patients but in most pharmacies they report directly to the pharmacist. A pharmacy technician has duties that are both challenging and rewarding.
Overall, the duties of pharmacy technician are pretty consistent regardless of their place of employment which can range from the traditional pharmacy to hospitals and clinics to mail order pharmacies.
The workplace options are another appealing aspect to a pharmacy technician career. The breakdown in workplace options is roughly like this. About 70% of pharmacy technician jobs are currently in retail pharmacies which includes both chain store pharmacies and independently owned pharmacies.
Another 20% of pharmacy technician jobs are located in hospitals and the rest are scattered throughout clinics, wholesale and mail order pharmacies.
A few of the most important skills a pharmacy technician needs to master are people skills, organization, the ability to focus and perform under a wide variety of pressure situations, multi-tasking, the ability to work independently and a knack to handle it all with a smile.
These skills and character traits enables your supervising pharmacist to have the confidence that you can handle all types of situations and the ability to delegate whatever task needs to be done and that you'll get it done and done right.
In addition to having a good working relationship with your supervising pharmacist, as a pharmacy technician you will also be required to interact on a daily basis with patients, pharmacist aids and other healthcare professionals. As a result, teamwork is another vital aspect any highly trained pharmacy technician.
As a pharmacy technician your daily duties can vary greatly and can range from verifying the accuracy of prescriptions, labeling bottles, inventory, interacting with patients, database management and whatever the supervising pharmacist needs done.
Although working in a clean, controlled work environment is nice, it's certainly not the primary factor that appeals to those interested in becoming a pharmacy technician but it's simply another one of those subtle benefits of this ever growing career in the healthcare industry.
Article Source:http://www.century21rx.com/article16.html
Labels: pharmacy technician, Pharmacy Technicians
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pharmacy Technician - Job Outlook and Training
By Scott Knutson
With the current shortage for highly skilled pharmacy technician's it's no surprise that all sorts of schools, as well as their online counterparts are offering an ever increasing number of pharmacy technician programs. These programs are specifically geared towards improving the quality of pharmacy technician graduates nationwide who will then help fill in the current gap in need for trained pharmacy technician graduates in the health care industry.
The relationship between a pharmacy technician and a pharmacist is similar to that of a paralegal and an attorney in that in essence the pharmacy technician is an assistant and performs a wide variety of tasks and assignments that are a bit less high profile and that don't require and actual pharmacist license. In most circumstances, their boss is a registered pharmacist.
Pharmacy technicians duties include a wide variety of duties like: keeping track of patient records, packaging and labeling prescription medication, keeping track of the drug supply, compounding medications, understanding prescription orders, doing inventory, doing the preparation of sterile products as well as billing and crediting the patients while also being able to work with a computer.
Pharmacy technicians can be assigned to various health care settings from hospitals, drug wholesalers, mail order pharmacies, home health care agencies as well as long term care facilities.
The current job market for pharmacy technicians is on fire and is one of the primary factors why more and more people are looking into a pharmacy technician career. The options are unlimited and expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future for a properly trained, competent pharmacy technician.
Of course salaries and benefits vary depending on an individual's experience, the type of employer and which part of the country the employer is located but it's clearly possible to make a comfortable living.
Most highly rated and reputable pharmacy technician programs are accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists or ASHP and it's becoming more common for employers to require that any prospective pharmacy technician be to obtain their certification and license before they will be hired.
Many pharmacy technician programs include some type of hands on internship in a local pharmacy to get hands on experience along with the book work which ranges from pharmacology and medical terminology to human body structure to pharmacology law.
Due to the demand and popularity of night classes and online learning more and more pharmacy technician training schools and course offer flexible class schedules to accommodate not only the young but those already working adults who are looking for a career change.
If the allure of a pharmacy technician career appeals to you, check out the links below.
Visit pharmacy tech online or pharmacy tech or pharmacy tech school for more information on a Pharmacology Career.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Knutson
With the current shortage for highly skilled pharmacy technician's it's no surprise that all sorts of schools, as well as their online counterparts are offering an ever increasing number of pharmacy technician programs. These programs are specifically geared towards improving the quality of pharmacy technician graduates nationwide who will then help fill in the current gap in need for trained pharmacy technician graduates in the health care industry.
The relationship between a pharmacy technician and a pharmacist is similar to that of a paralegal and an attorney in that in essence the pharmacy technician is an assistant and performs a wide variety of tasks and assignments that are a bit less high profile and that don't require and actual pharmacist license. In most circumstances, their boss is a registered pharmacist.
Pharmacy technicians duties include a wide variety of duties like: keeping track of patient records, packaging and labeling prescription medication, keeping track of the drug supply, compounding medications, understanding prescription orders, doing inventory, doing the preparation of sterile products as well as billing and crediting the patients while also being able to work with a computer.
Pharmacy technicians can be assigned to various health care settings from hospitals, drug wholesalers, mail order pharmacies, home health care agencies as well as long term care facilities.
The current job market for pharmacy technicians is on fire and is one of the primary factors why more and more people are looking into a pharmacy technician career. The options are unlimited and expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future for a properly trained, competent pharmacy technician.
Of course salaries and benefits vary depending on an individual's experience, the type of employer and which part of the country the employer is located but it's clearly possible to make a comfortable living.
Most highly rated and reputable pharmacy technician programs are accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists or ASHP and it's becoming more common for employers to require that any prospective pharmacy technician be to obtain their certification and license before they will be hired.
Many pharmacy technician programs include some type of hands on internship in a local pharmacy to get hands on experience along with the book work which ranges from pharmacology and medical terminology to human body structure to pharmacology law.
Due to the demand and popularity of night classes and online learning more and more pharmacy technician training schools and course offer flexible class schedules to accommodate not only the young but those already working adults who are looking for a career change.
If the allure of a pharmacy technician career appeals to you, check out the links below.
Visit pharmacy tech online or pharmacy tech or pharmacy tech school for more information on a Pharmacology Career.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Knutson
Labels: pharmacy technician
