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.

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.

Pharmacy Technician Schooling and Training Options

The work completed by a pharmacist is coupled with the needed assistance of a technician. Several schooling options exist for students interested in working inside the pharmacy industry. Students will gain a valuable skill set through one of the available educational programs. Pharmacy technician schooling and training options are available at the certificate and associate's degree levels.

Pharmacy technician's assist pharmacists by administering medication, providing customer service, and conducting clerical work. This general breakdown of job tasks is learned through specific medical study that prepares students to fulfill their roles inside a pharmacy, hospital, nursing home, and more. Students can expect to learn how to assist in the workplace by completing duties that may include:

    * Preparing a prescription by counting, weighing, and sometimes mixing the needed medication.
    * Maintaining patient files and preparing different medical insurance paperwork
    * Clerical work: includes answering phones, operating industry technologies, and receiving prescription requests.