Pharmacy Technician - A Quick Training Guide

Do you want to join the medical field but you do notscores and some pharmacy schools require you to
want to spend years in training school or be a nurse?attend an interview with them before starting the
If so, becoming a pharmacy technician will let you joincourse.
the medical field without years of school. (Although it- A majority of pharmacy schools require you to do a
takes time to become a pharmacist, is does not takeminimum of two year of pre-pharmacy college in order
as long as becoming a doctor does.) As a pharmacistto enroll in a PharmD program.
you will use your knowledge of medications to fill- When you become a pharmacy technician you have
prescriptions and advice patients on how theirtwo degree options to choose from, they are a
medication need to be taken, what side effects theyPharmD on Doctor Pharmacy or a Non-Traditional
may or may not suffer from their medication, and howPharmD.
different medications interact with each other. You willNow that you have taken a quick view at the training
also have the opportunity to work closely with doctors,a pharmacy technician needs to go through, let's take
and preparing drug therapist in areas such as oncologya look at some other important things you need to
and intravenous nutrition support. Now that you knowbecome a pharmacist. In general, most pharmacist
what some of your duties will be as a pharmacist, let'swork an average of forty hours per week and they
take a look at how you become a pharmacyoften work evening and weekends. They earn a
technician.salary of $106,764; however most pharmacists earn
Pharmacy Technician Training/Educationmore than $112,000 per year. You must also keep in
In order to become a pharmacist you need tomind that it is illegal in all fifty states to practice
graduate with a PharmD Degree (Doctor of Pharmacypharmacy without a license; hence, you must attend a
Degree) after attending a pharmacist school approvedPharmD program and pass NAPLEX (North America
by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education.Pharmacist Licensure Examination).
You will also be required to complete an internshipWhat to you think? Still want to be a pharmacist
under the guidance of a licensed pharmacist and totechnician? Well, you should because although the
obtain your pharmaceutical license you will need totraining may sound hard and long, once you start time
pass the state examination (NAPLEX).passes fairly quickly and you will enjoy your career as
- In order to apply to a pharmacy school you will needa pharmacists, not only because you will be joining a
to do the fallowing things, complete a pre-pharmacyvery important profession in the medical field, but
course and take a PCAT test (Pharmacy Collegebecause you will also have the opportunity to work
Admission Test). Once you have taken the PCAT youwith doctors and meet new people all at the same
need to gather additional papers/information such astime!
essays, letters of recommendation, transcripts, test