A pharmacy technician accepts and fills patients drug requests. Such requests come from physicians, nurses, hospitals or from the patients. The duties and responsibilities of a pharmacy technician is overseen by a professional pharmacist. The pharmacy technician has other duties too, like running and or managing the daily operations of the pharmacy itself. A technician is also required to relate with patients and concerned hospices. Likewise, he performs other non-medication-related responsibilities, which includes maintenance of patient profiles, preparation of insurance forms, answering of phone calls and inventory of medications.
Salary Package
A fresh graduate pharmacy technician who has not yet taken and passed a pharmacy technician certification exam, is usually paid less compared to junior and senior pharmacy techs. However, this depends on the employers decision. But the standard median hourly rate for new pharmacy technicians is $9.60.
A pharmacy tech with 4 years of relevant experience may receive an hourly rate of $10. By this time, he might have already earned his pharmacy technician certification. At the same time, technicians with five to nine years of experience may get a per hour rate of about $12.30.
Pharmacy Technicians with 10 to 25 years of experience may income as much as $14.30 on a per hour basis. Working for more than 25 years will allow a pharmacy technician to earn a per hour rate of $15.30. This makes an experienced pharmacy tech earn around $40,000 annually.
Certifying Agencies
There are 2 issuing agencies in the United States that award certifications to pharmacy technicians. First is the Institute of Certification of Pharmacy Technicians; Second is the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board. Both agencies provide accurate information and procedures on how to take the exams and acquire certification. Both are key agencies, but getting a pharmacy technician certification from either of the two is enough to start a pharmacy career. Certifications are renewable every 2 years. This allows pharmacy technicians to upgrade their knowledge on pharmacy.
Pharmacy Tech Schools
Getting a good training as a pharmacy technician is easy, given the availability of many schools that offer training courses on pharmacy tech. The training curriculum are designed to give trainings on basic job tasks and duties of a pharmacy technician. Other courses offered help students gain basic knowledge on prescriptions and medications. Other trainings include processing drug dosages, and controlling drug inventory levels. All these trainings are pertinent to preparing for the pharmacy technician certification exam and eventually acquiring a certification. Some of the schools that provide the best pharmacy tech trainings are Everest College, US Career Institute and Kaplan College.
