Pharmacy Technician
The medical field has many job opportunities, and pharmacy technician is just one of those. People respect you when you have a job in the medical field. Working one of those jobs is considered contributing to society. In any one of those position, you will contribute to the general health of the population in your area. When we think about working in the medical field, we automatically picture ourselves taking care of patients. But direct care at the bedside is not a job anybody can do. You would need to have quite some physical strength if you consider working as a nurse or a nurse’s assistant, or enter the field of occupational or physical therapy.
As a pharmacy technician description, it can be said that the person, usually in a white medical coat, gets prescriptions ready for patients, in the setting of a pharmacy. He or she works under the supervision of a pharmacist, and will also have to organize the bottles and other containers on the shelves, and serve customers. Organizational skills and neatness and accuracy are essential skills. After all, a pharmacy is also a business. One of the goals of every business is to provide the workers with a way to earn a living, and the owner wants to make profit.
Other pharmacy technician duties are communicating with medical insurance companies and doctors by phone and email. Sometimes, these pharmacy employees have to fax paperwork. They keep track of what is in stock, so that they know what needs to be ordered. They follow the guidelines that are given to them by the pharmacy they work for, but they definitely need to have some basic inventory skills. But the possible tasks reach far beyond those duties that are already mentioned.
Extra schooling and specialties are always a plus. If you are perhaps a licensed registered nurse or a skilled nurse who is looking for a new job because the lifting in the hospital has become too hard, and you want to work in a pharmacy, you have a major advantage. You will be able to administer flu shots to interested customers and their family members, and you already have a substantial medical terminology and pharmacology knowledge. Because of your experience with patients as a direct care nurse, you will also be in a better position to assist customers when they have questions regarding over the counter medications, vitamins, creams, bandages, and incontinence care related issues. You will be in a great position to recommend tests that can be done at home, such as drug tests and blood sugar tests. You can even answer questions by diabetics regarding their dietary needs.
Doctors generally do not have to do a lot of lifting, but not everybody is capable of doing so much schooling. Physicians nowadays specialize in a certain field, and their education can easily stretch out to ten years or even longer. Most of us are not willing to dedicate that much time to preparing for a career. The cost of going to school and become a physician is also a stumbling block for many. Pharmacy technicians do not need the physical strength to constantly lift patients and do not have to go to school very long.
Of course, you do need to be fit enough to do your job and work yourself through the pharmacy technician training. After all, pharmacy technician is a licensed profession. The division of occupational and professional licensing in your state is not only a place where patients and their families can file a complaint. You can also go to the website and get all the information you need to get the necessary license. Of course, you will need to do a pharmacy technician exam before you can become licensed. Pharmacists, who are about to hire a technician, can access that same website to verify the license of the candidate.
If you are interested in pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry, talk to your local pharmacist or his technician. Talking to them will provide you with valuable information. Check out the local colleges also and see what pharmaceutical programs they offer. You can register for a formal training program. In addition to going to school, you should also look into getting some hands-on training. Once you start doing some research, you will find out that there are many pharmacies that have the qualifications and certificates, licenses, or approvals, to provide students with this hands-on training. On-the-job training is an option in most states. That, of course, is always under the supervision of a pharmacist who is licensed to provide that training, and can fill out the necessary paperwork. A pharmacy technician training hours log need also be filled out by the supervising pharmacist. The pharmacist needs to be able to provide you with an affidavit of supervising pharmacist responsible for practical training. Do not forget that not every pharmacist is qualified to offer you that training. You need to verify, that the pharmacist who offers you the position as trainee for pharmacy technician, is allowed to do so, and you can do that on the website of your state.