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Three Things You Must Know As a Pharmacy Tech

Becoming a Pharmacy Technician is an exciting choice for a career! Pharmacy technicians are educated and certified professionals who assist pharmacists in all aspects of pharmacology. Pharmacy techs are essential in a drug store, grocery store, hospital or even warehouse pharmacies. Techs keep everything running smoothly and accurately. Pharmacy technician training covers a wide variety of areas related to the field of pharmacy. At the end of your training, you will receive a Pharmacy Technician certificate and be able to sit your state exams for certification to become Registered Pharmacy Technician. There are three main things you will need to know as a pharmacy tech.

The Legal Ins and Outs of the Pharmacy World

A reliable knowledge of pharmacy law is crucial to the successful completion of a pharmacy technician program and to be an efficacious team member in a pharmaceutical setting. Your course will cover laws that of pharmacy dispensation, regulation, and operations in your area. You will learn how to legally handle medication in your day to day work, including how to identify customers and medical consumer privacies laws, such as HIPPA. You will be a key asset to ensuring that your consumers’ medical records are kept private within the provisions outlined in the law. Keeping close monitoring on medication and inventory practices that pertain to the local law will also be covered. You will learn to search electronic databases and records to verify compliance with law in your individual workplace. You will also learn about pharmacy ethics and how to apply them to your career.

Medication Dispensing is Key

Pharmacy technicianMedication dispensing is one of the main components of a Pharmacy Technician’s job. Pharmacy technician training will cover all areas of medication identification, preparation, and labeling. You will be able to recognize medications both by their brand and generic names. Compounding and mixing medication will be an integral part of your education; you will be taught to calculate, using various measuring systems, the correct dosages of medication and strength of solutions. Sorting and counting medication will be of key importance to your career so ample practice will be provided in both your classwork and your externship.

Accurate labeling and inventories are crucial to safe practices both in the pharmacy and with the consumer. You will be trained to pay attention to minute details that will save costs and at times, life-threatening, mistakes. You may also learn about the physical and digital inventorying systems that keep pharmacies stocked and running smoothly. Pharmacology is an ever changing world and your education will endow you with the flexibility to adapt to the changes as they arrive.

What Does This Prescription Say

Once you have completed your pharmacy technician training, you will be the envy of all who know you as you will be able to read and interpret the handwriting of a doctor! Your coursework will cover how to read a prescription, including the terminology needed to interpret dosing and usage instructions. You will learn how to enter written prescriptions into the computer system and proper handling of them once they are digitally entered. You will be able to facilitate the reception of verbally transmitted and electronically transmitted prescriptions. Ability to handle prescriptions. You will learn the most technically advanced methods of prescription handling.

Where Do I Go From Here

Once your classroom education and your hands on lab experiences are completed, you may do an externship where you will put what you have learned to practical use. This will give you real world situations in which to employ the skills you have acquired throughout your course. After your externship, you will have earned your diploma. Pharmacy Techs are employed in a variety of places, such as nursing care facilities, hospitals, both private and chain drug stores, pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, wholesale warehouse facilities, and Health Maintenance Organizations. All that in addition to retail pharmacies that we visit every day! The pharmacy technician career is flexible and offers many options!

 

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