Pharmacy Tech Course

By Ashley Boyce, an allied health world staff writer
Published: January 7th, 2010

What can I expect from pharmacy tech course study?

Students of pharmacy tech programs can expect classes in subjects that, perhaps surprisingly, vary quit widely. Although the core classes are firmly based in the scientific and technical necessities of the job, today’s pharmacy techs must also be well prepared with specialized organizational, administrative, and inter-personal skills. In many cases, the job of pharmacy techs has been brought out of the backroom of pharmacies where they count pills, prepare labels, and process prescriptions, and into the forefront of the pharmacy where they fill more public-facing roles. Although these important behind-the-scenes jobs are still the core function of pharmacy technicians, these well-trained professionals are more and more frequently being tasked with administrative duties that find them interacting with both patients and physicians alike.

Pharmacy technician courses provide a well-rounded education that will prepare graduates for an active and fast paced work environment where they’ll work closely with resident pharmacists and the public.

What specific pharmacy technician courses can I expect from school?

The subjects covered by courses provided by pharmacy technician schools offering certificate and associate level programs will

include some standard coursework that would be part of most any medically related technical education. These fundamentals would include general medical terminology, organic chemistry, physiology, and biology. These standard pharmacy technician courses are not necessarily highly advanced, but rather cater to the need for practical knowledge when working within the medical community. Although these classes should pose a rewarding challenge to recent high-school graduates, they are by no means beyond the capability of the majority of aspiring pharmacy techs that enter into these programs.

Specialized pharmacy tech courses provide more specific direct job related training. These courses are the cornerstone of a pharmacy techs unique expertise. As an aspiring professional in this field, expect to take pharmacy technician courses in pharmaceutical calculations and terminology, as well as pharmaceutical techniques. These pharmacy tech courses will teach students the names of the drugs they most frequently work with as well as their intended applied uses, dosages, and physiological actions. Also expect your pharmacy tech training will involve some administrative-type coursework in pharmacy record keeping.

What can I expect from pharmacy tech courses in law and ethics?

Pharmacy technicians are part of the chain of responsibility that sees to it that proper dosages of the correct medicine are dispensed only to the intended recipient. Although the resident pharmacist ultimately bears all responsibility for this, they go about their duties with the understanding that the pharmacy technicians under them operate with professional and personal integrity. Pharmacy technician courses in law and ethics are a very important component of any pharmacy tech program. The nature of the work these professionals perform means being in contact with patient medical records that can contain some highly sensitive, personal information. Because of this fact, any pharmacy tech course in law and ethics will deal largely with the importance of patient confidentiality. These classes also discuss the development of new legislation surrounding the new movement to create a universal educational standard for all pharmacy techs.

Issues related to the dispensing of pharmaceutical drugs that have known narcotic affects and addictive properties is also a focal point of any pharmacy tech course in law and ethics. This has been made increasingly more urgent by the recognized epidemic of prescription medicine abuse among teens and adolescents in recent years.