Online Pharmacy Technician Degree Programs

Pharmacies are incredibly busy on a regular basis as many Americans need prescriptions filled. Work can pile up quickly and many times it is too much for pharmacists to handle by themselves, hence the need for work relief from a pharmacy technician. Online degree programs are provided by a number of schools to teach students how to perform specific duties inside the workplace.

To fully understand what a pharmacy technician does students need to know what pharmacists do.

    * Pharmacists work with patients and their doctors by providing extensive information on prescriptions.
    * Once a plan is set for a particular patient then a pharmacist mixes specific ingredients in the correct dosage to make a prescription. This process is known as compounding.
    * A pharmacy technician provides assistance by working with patients, blending ingredients, and giving out medications. Other areas of work include working directly with insurance companies and performing basic administrative duties.

Pharmacy Technician Training at a Glance

If you want to have a long and prosperous career in pharmacy, you should attend a good school with a great pharmacy technician training program. When looking for a great training program, one place to start your research is at your local community college. Attending a local community college will teach you the core fundamentals of starting a great career in pharmacy.

In the first year of your pharmacy technician training, many students learn the basics that many health care professionals are taught. You are taught fundamentals such as medical terminology, basic and complex word problem solving, basic drug pronunciation, and different drug interactions. Some programs go a little further and get into the chemical makeup of the many drugs that are manufactured on a regular basis. This may seem like a lot to the new incoming student, but these are essential attributes that one must absorb to become successful when choosing this particular career choice.

Although it may seem like a lot of math and science from the outside looking in, most pharmacy technician training programs that are taught in an actual college setting also require prerequisites before a student is even accepted into the program. For example a student must have a certain level of math skills coming into the program. Many require you to have a certain number of years of chemistry and biology. Along with these courses, they may require you to have courses such as keyboarding, sociology, economics, and other courses that may strengthen and enhance your communication skills.

Pharmacy Technician Schools - What's the Best Place For You? - What's the Best Place For You?

The main responsibility of a pharmacy technician is to help licensed pharmacists fill out prescription requests that come from hospitals, physicians, nurses, and from patients themselves. This task includes retrieving prescription orders, counting, measuring, weighing and pouring medications, mixing medications, selecting proper prescription containers, and creating prescription labels. Afterwards, a licensed pharmacist checks the completed prescription before it is given to the patient.

Aside from filling out prescriptions, the technician assists in the pharmacy's day-to-day operations and performs non-medication-related functions, such as preparing insurance claim forms, maintaining files, attending to cash register transactions, taking inventory of over-the-counter medications and taking calls.

Pharmacy technicians need to have proper training for the job. Aspiring technicians have to enroll in and complete pharmacy technician training courses. There are schools that offer associate-level degrees; others offer certificates and diplomas for degree holders who wish to be employed as technicians. The best training opportunity they can get comes from on-the-job training in pharmacies or within the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmacy Tech Training Programs

Overview

Technicians work under the supervision of licensed pharmacists, helping them fulfill prescriptions. The technician is a bit of a "jack of all trades." He or she will perform numerous tasks, including preparing, compounding and dispensing medications, taking medication orders and accepting payments from customers. All drugs are checked before they are sold by the licensed pharmacist on-staff, but the tech has a major role to play in the process. In short, they take care of (to a large degree) a pharmacy's operational management duties. Individuals that want to become a technician may want to consider enrolling in pharmacy tech training programs.

The vast majority of pharmacy techs (75%) work in retail pharmacies. These types of pharmacies can be found independently, inside grocery stores and drug store chains. A smaller percentage (16%), work in hospitals. The U.S. Government, online pharmacies, wholesalers, clinics and mail order facilities, hire the remaining pharmacy techs.

Required Degrees or Certifications

The educational and certification requirements will differ from state to state and from facility to facility. There are no federal guidelines and most pharmacies don't have certification and/or educational requirements, though many do prefer to hire those that are certified.

The Top 10 Pharmacy Technician Schools

To be a certified pharmacy technician, you must begin or continue your education in an accredited school/college. Listed below are some of the best pharmacy technician schools that offer different types of class schedules, course content and degrees. Feel free to read their description as some of them offers online education and some offers traditional classes.

National College:
Offers education on campus, its programs covers medical terms, medical administrations and calculation, law and ethics of healthcare and also human relations. It provides a one year diploma program and two year associate degree program with a course in Microsoft Office.

Everest College:
Have an on campus certificate program covering anatomy, physiology, nutrition pharmacy administration and also pharmaceutical calculations. A different edge to this program is it also offers customer service, organizational and computer skills program to give students the extra advantage.