What does a pharmacy technician do? One of the primary responsibilities of a pharmacy technician is to work closely with a pharmacist to guarantee the health and safety of the patients who visit the pharmacy. They identify, distribute, pack, and label a patient’s prescription medication, which is subsequently verified by a pharmacist for correctness before being administered to the patient.
What is another name for a pharmacy technician?
Pharmacy technicians, who are also sometimes referred to as pharmacy assistants or pharmacy aides, provide assistance to certified pharmacists in the process of making medicine for individual patients.
What is difference between pharmacy and pharmacy technician?
Pharmacists are tasked with responsibilities such as filling prescriptions, administering vaccines, instructing patients on how and when to take their medication, and ensuring that a patient’s medications won’t interact with each other. Other duties include ensuring that a patient’s medications won’t conflict with each other.
- When it comes to potentially hazardous drug interactions, patients can only trust their care to pharmacists as their final line of defense.
- In addition to this, they are responsible for monitoring the work of pharmacy technicians.
- The process of packing and labeling medicines, as well as arranging inventory, interacting with clients, and collecting payments are some of the most important responsibilities of pharmacy technicians.
Additional tasks may be added to the job description of a pharmacy technician, however this is contingent on the employer. Pharmacists have extensive education in the sciences, including biology, chemistry, physics, and others. When determining whether or not it is safe for patients to take a certain drug, having this knowledge is helpful.
- Technicians at pharmacies collaborate closely with licensed pharmacists and are responsible for filling the vast majority of prescriptions.
- The smooth operation of a pharmacy is dependent on the combined efforts of many people.
- Recent years have seen a rise in the number of patient care responsibilities that pharmacists are responsible for, including the administration of flu vaccines and the provision of many other patient care services.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics believes that as a result of this, pharmacy technicians may take on expanded tasks and assume extra obligations that pharmacists may no longer be able to do on their own. As a result of this, it is abundantly evident that pharmacy technicians are essential cogs in the machine that is the functioning of the pharmacy.
- On the one hand, in order to get a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD.) degree, which typically needs an additional four years of study after two to four years of undergraduate study, pharmacists are required to finish an intensive educational program.
- It is possible that the pharmacist will need to complete more training, such as a residency program, before being qualified for the profession that they are pursuing.
Pharmacy technicians, on the other hand, are normally required to have a high school education; nevertheless, prior to joining the sector, it is beneficial to enroll in a program at a community college or trade school. Additionally, pharmacy technicians in many jurisdictions are required to get certification by passing an examination administered by an accrediting agency such as the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB).
- When opposed to becoming a pharmacist, being a pharmacy technician is a quicker and easier route to follow.
- In contrast to pharmacy technicians, who only need to complete a training program for a maximum of 42 weeks before sitting for their certification exam, pharmacists are needed to complete their education over the course of many years.
Are you interested in launching a dynamic and rewarding career in the field of healthcare? If this describes you, being a pharmacy technician can be the ideal career path for you, and there is no better institution than Coyne College from which to launch your career in this field.