Pharmacy Technician - What Exactly Do They Do

Choosing the job you want is not like choosing whatOther tasks include being able to work under
course to take in college or what dish you want topressure because there will be days that the
be served. It's definitely much harder. At least indrugstore or pharmacy where you work has people
college, you only need to sacrifice four to five yearslined up to get their prescriptions filled.
of your life, unless you're inclined to take it furtherAs a pharmacy technician, you will also be responsible
and get a master's degree. But choosing the rightfor supplying aid to licensed pharmacists as they
place of employment can potentially affect you for aprovide patients with medication and other healthcare
lifetime so one must choose wisely before making aproducts. A well trained, competent pharmacy
decision.technician must therefore be knowledgeable enough
In this article, we are going to explore the jobto suggest alternative brands for off the counter
description, specifications and qualifications needed tomedication but alternatives for prescribed medication
become a pharmacy technician.is solely the responsibility of licensed pharmacists.
The first question one should ask is... what is aA pharmacy technician is sometimes required to
pharmacy technician and what does a pharmacyperform certain manual tasks like labeling bottles,
technician do? First of all, a pharmacy technician is notcounting pills or doing inventory. In some areas of the
a pharmacist. A pharmacist must have a degree incountry, the tasks of a pharmacy technician and a
pharmacy. On the other hand, a pharmacy technicianpharmacist aide overlap so don't be surprised if on
isn't burdened with the same requirements andoccasion, you end up being asked to complete tasks
responsibilities.meant for the latter. This could include acting as a
In a nutshell, a pharmacy technician is an assistantcashier, answering phone inquiries, stocking shelves
pharmacist but has job responsibilities one step higherand other clerical duties. While there are several
than that of a pharmacist aide.pharmacy technician duties that a pharmacist aide can
Let's break down the official definition of pharmacynever perform, there are few pharmacist aide tasks
technicians' job title into two parts. The pharmacist orthat a pharmacy technician cannot perform.
pharmacy aspect of the job requires you to have aThe job responsibilities of a pharmacy technician can
working knowledge of drugs and medicine. Avary depending on the type of business the
pharmacy technician must also know the differencepharmacy they work at is located in. For example, a
between cough tablets and aspirin and have thepharmacy technician is usually assigned to handle
knowledge to navigate the fine line betweenorders sent through courier or even email in a mail
headache pills and tablets to help relieve PMS andorder pharmacy and upon verification that the order
they must also be able to handle the basic operationsis correctly and properly filled up, the pharmacist
of a pharmacy if the pharmacist is on vacation ortechnician is then required to do the actual counting,
nowhere to be found.weighing and mixing of the prescription.
The technical aspect of the job also requires theOn the other hand, in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes
pharmacy technician to have exemplary organizationaland so forth a pharmacy technician may have the
skills and they may be also be required to labeladded responsibilities of record filing and the updating
medicine bottles and categorize them under theof patient files - especially those related a patient's
correct name or group - the 100 mg label must go onmedication.
the 100 mg bottle. Just one error, one tiny oversightIf the allure of a pharmacy technician career appeals
could result in very negative consequences for ato you, check out the links below.
patient.