Pharmacy Technician Associate’s Degree Programs

About Pharmacy Technician Careers

A pharmacy is in constant need of qualified pharmacy technicians who have the ability to work on a personal basis with their customers. The pharmacy technician must be able to process and prepare prescriptions, and then distribute the medication to the patients. For this reason alone, pharmacy technicians are in very high demand.

To be able to work in a pharmacy setting, you must be able to understand the medical field as a whole. Prescription drugs are constantly changing and are becoming generic, for example, so a good pharmacy technician must be on top of all the medication and their contraindications. When a pharmacy technician has graduated from an accredited associate’s degree program, they will be ready to work with pharmacists in this function. An associate’s degree that prepares you to become a pharmacy technician will give you the chance to work closely with other technicians as well as the pharmacist in charge. It is incumbent upon the technician to have excellent people skills because these patients are often in a vulnerable state when asking for their prescriptions.

An accredited curriculum will include but not be limited to:

• Biology and chemistry
• Anatomy and physiology
• Computer skills
• Calculating pharmaceutical needs
• Maintaining inventory
• Working with the community at large
• Community education
• Human relations
• Psychology

An associate’s degree to become a pharmacy technician also will include basic skills that are necessary in order to deal with pharmacists and the prescriptions that they dispense. Skills that are essential in this field include all of the aforementioned courses that the pharmacy technician must take.

Of course, in order to become a certified pharmacy technician, you must be able to process prescriptions and dispense them correctly. You must also be able to explain the prescriptions to the patients and give them appropriate instructions, when needed. You need to have excellent skills in customer service to become a pharmacy technician.

Obviously, a pharmacy technician cannot graduate and immediately enter a pharmacy and dispense prescriptions. You must have some training prior to doing any of the aforementioned activities. Since the pharmacy industry is in extreme need of qualified pharmacy technicians, many pharmacies will have mentoring programs in order to expedite the process. If you feel you have the stamina and the people skills necessary to be a good pharmacy technician, then you should aggressively pursue your goals.