Pharmacy Technician

Pharmacy technicians help licensed pharmacists provide medication and other healthcare products to patients. Technicians usually perform routine task to help prepare prescribed medication for patients, such as counting tablets and labeling bottles. Technicians refer any questions regarding prescriptions, drug information, or health matters to a pharmacist. Pharmacy technicians who work in retail or mail order pharmacies have varying responsibilities. Technicians receive written prescriptions or requests for prescription refills from patients. They also may receive prescriptions sent electronically from the doctor’s office. In hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities, technicians have added responsibilities. They read patient charts and prepare and deliver the medicine to patients.

PT100 - Pharmacology and the Vascular System - This course provides students with an understanding of the principal structural features of the heart and the lymphatic system and their role in the circulatory process while discussing the use of cardiovascular drugs for treatment of their pathologies in prescription and nonprescription form. Emphasis is placed on trade and generic drugs of the cardiovascular system and their therapeutic effects. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to identify and discuss trade, generic, use, action, dosage form, route, and classification of cardiovascular drugs in the top 200 lists, and interpret prescriptions using correct dosage equation while dispensing a drug in the correct delivery system. Students are also trained in the use of methods and equipment in CPR.

PT101 - Pharmacy Laws and Regulations - This course orients students to the work of pharmacy technicians and the context in which technicians' work is performed. Students learn the concept of direct patient care and technicians' general role in its delivery, with particular emphasis on the complementary roles of pharmacists and technicians. Students are introduced to the profound influence that medication laws, standards, and regulations have on practice. Upon successful completion, students should be able to explain the concept of quality assurance and its procedures while noting the laws and regulations that govern the practice.

PT102 - Pharmacy Business Applications - In this course, students learn to assist the pharmacist in collecting, organizing, and evaluating information for direct patient care, medication use review, and departmental management. Emphasis is placed on securing information from the patient medical chart, record, and patient profile. Students also learn to interview patients, their representatives, caregivers, and healthcare professionals for needed information. Upon successful completion of the course, students should have the ability to adapt patient care to meet the needs of diversity while using basic math skills to evaluate information for direct patient care. Finally, students learn confidentiality issues regarding patient-specific information while handling health insurance billing including federal and state funded insurance programs.

PT103 - Hospital and Retail Pharmacy - In this course, students learn the preparation of sterile products, the hospital drug delivery system, unit dose packaging systems, ward stocks, narcotic disposal, and community pharmacy operations. The preparation of IV admixtures and TPN solutions under sterile conditions is introduced. Emphasis is also placed on the proper use of the laminar flow hood using quality control measures. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to develop proper manipulative techniques as well as the interpretation and evaluation of hospital orders and technical duties related to dispensing over-the-counter drugs in a retail pharmacy.

PT104 - Sterile Product Preparations - In this course, students learn the preparation of sterile products including extemporaneous compounding. The preparation of IV admixtures and TPN solutions under sterile conditions is also introduced. Emphasis is also placed on the proper use of the laminar flow hood using quality control measures. Upon successful completion of the course, students should have developed proper sterile manipulative techniques, IV preparation, and extemporaneous compounding skills to prepare a drug product according to a drug formula.

PT106 - Hospital Policy and Procedures - This course allows students to develop familiarity with the hospital drug delivery systems, inventory controls, unit dose packaging, ward stock, PYXIS, crash carts, compounding, and IV admixture preparations. Emphasis is placed on hospital policies and procedures, narcotic stock disposal, compounding math, practical application of the metric system, and general hospital pharmacy duties. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate competencies in general compounding while following the policy and procedures of a hospital facility under JACHO recommendations.

PT107 - Computer Applications and Career Development - In this course, students learn the components of commonly used computer hardware and software. Keyboarding skills are practiced to enhance speed and accuracy. Microsoft Office is introduced and used for the purpose of building proficient operation of computer software. Emphasis is placed on the practical application of entering patient information and prescription data. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to have a basic understanding of career management in pharmacy while using Microsoft Office applications to assist with managerial duties. Students should also be proficient in prescription processing system software.

PT108 - Inventory, Equipment and Asepsis - In this course, students learn to control the inventory of medication, equipment, maintaining pharmacy equipment and devices according to an established plan. Emphasis is placed on inventory control of pharmaceuticals, devices, and supplies including handling their receipt, storage, removal, and infection control. Students learn to identify items that should be ordered and the cleaning of laminar airflow cabinets. Upon successful completion of the course, students should understand the concept of troubleshooting and the maintenance and repairing of pharmacy equipment and devices while maintaining the security of inventory.

PT110 - Pharmacology and the Apocrine Systems - In this course, students learn the use and side effects of prescription medications, nonprescription medications, and alternative therapies commonly used to treat diseases affecting the endocrine and integumentary systems. To achieve this, they first master an understanding of basic anatomy and physiology of the endocrine and integumentary systems. For each medication studied, they learn the brand and generic name, standard pronunciation, abbreviation, dosage forms, and routes of administration. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be proficient in therapeutic treatment alternatives for diseases of the apocrine system demonstrating this by interpretation, dosage calculation and delivery method of brand and generic medication distribution.

PT120 - Pharmacology and the Motor Systems - This course provides students with an understanding of the generalized functions and support mechanisms of the human body while introducing them to the pharmacology that deals with the musculoskeletal system. Topics discussed include muscle relaxants, non-narcotic analgesics, and drugs for arthritis. Emphasis concerns causes, cures, and treatment of common aliments using both prescription and OTC drugs. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to discuss pathologies of the musculoskeletal system and generic and trade drugs that are used for treatment. Students should be aware of the side effects, dosage form, route, and proper use of these drugs while determining the correct delivery system.

PT130 - Pharmacology and the Nervous System - This course provides students with an introduction to pathologies of the nervous system and the drugs used for treatment of its pathologies in prescription and nonprescription form. Drug classes presented include stimulants, depressants, psychotropic, anxiolytic, anti-anxiety, pain management, anticonvulsants, anesthetics, analgesics, and narcotics. Emphasis is placed on the connection between the physiological systems and the related drugs. Students should demonstrate competency with the different drug trade names, generic name and their classification. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to distinguish between the brand and generic name, standard pronunciation, dosage form, and routes of administration of medications used to treat the nervous system including psychiatric disorders. Students should be able to demonstrate this by interpreting prescription and medication orders using the correct dosage equation and delivery system.

PT140 - Pharmacology and the Absorption Systems - This course allows students to review and differentiate the drugs linked to the respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, and the urinary system while studying the anatomy and physiology of those systems. Emphasis is placed on pathologies and drug treatment involving essential and accessory organs. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to identify and discuss trade, generic, standard pronunciation, dosage forms, abbreviations and routes of administration for each medication studied that relates to the absorption systems.

PT160 - Externship - This course provides students training in the skills developed in the didactic and laboratory phases of their training in the practice environment of an ambulatory clinic that provides infusion services. The externship will be completed at a pharmacy, hospital, or other appropriate health care facility under the supervision of qualified healthcare personnel. At the completion of the externship, students will have performed all duties designated to a pharmacy technician in an ambulatory setting. The preceptor at the extern facility completes a written evaluation of each student's performance.

Occupations/Job Titles

Pharmacy technicians work in clean, organized, well lighted, and well-ventilated areas. Most of their workday is spent on their fee. They may be required to lift heavy boxes or to use stepladders to retrieve supplies from high shelves. Technicians work the same hours that pharmacists work. These may include evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. Because some hospital and retail pharmacies are open 24 hours a day, technicians may work varying shifts. Two-thirds of all pharmacy technicians’ work in retail pharmacies, either independently owned or part of a drugstore chain, grocery sore, department store, or mass retailer. Some jobs are in hospitals and a small proportion is in mail order and Internet pharmacies, clinics, pharmaceutical wholesalers, and the federal government.