What is a Pharmacy Technician?
Pharmacy Technicians are healthcare professionals who help licensed pharmacists dispense prescription medication to customers or health professionals. The Pharmacy Technician field is expected to grow 20% between 2012 and 2022, with over 70,000 new jobs becoming available. The ideal Pharmacy Technician maintains strong customer-service skills, is detail-oriented, observes consistent listening and math skills, and operates with reliable organizational patterns. This page explains what is a pharmacy technician.
What do Pharmacy Technicians do?
What is a Pharmacy Technician responsibility? What is a Pharmacy Technician requirement? Pharmacy Technicians generally participate in the following duties:
- Take the information needed to fill a prescription from customers or health professionals
- Measure amounts of medication for prescriptions
- Package and label prescriptions
- Organize inventory and alert pharmacists to any shortages of medications or supplies
- Accept payment for prescriptions and process insurance claims
- Enter customer or patient information, including any prescriptions taken, into a computer system
- Answer phone calls from customers
- Arrange for customers to speak with pharmacists if customers have questions about medication or health matters
Pharmacy Technicians work under the direct supervision of licensed pharmacists. Pharmacy Technicians must have their prescriptions reviewed before they are administered to patients. Many states allow Pharmacy Technicians to compound or mix medications, although these medications are limited to specific classes of drugs which may vary by state. Pharmacy Technicians may also be required to call physicians for refill authorizations. Pharmacy Technicians may need to operate automated dispensing machines when filling customer medication orders.
Where do Pharmacy Technicians work?
What is a Pharmacy Technician work environment like? Pharmacy Technicians work in pharmacies, hospitals or other medical facilities.
The Pharmacy Technicians who work in hospitals or other medical facilities are expected to prepare a greater variety of medication, such as intravenous medications. These Pharmacy Technicians may even be required to make rounds in the hospital, giving medications to patients at correct intervals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Find out How to Become a Pharmacy Technician with Medstar Academy.
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