What is a Pharmacy Technician?
Licensed Pharmacy Technicians help licensed pharmacist provide medication and other health care products to patients. Pharmacy technicians who work in retail or mail-order pharmacies usually perform routine tasks 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. Once the prescription is filled, technicians price and file the prescription, which must be checked by a pharmacist before it is given to the patient. Technicians may establish and maintain patient profiles, prepare insurance claim forms, and stock and take inventory of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

In hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted-living facilities, technicians have added responsibilities, including reading patients’ charts and preparing and delivering the medicine to patients. Technicians also assemble a 24-hour supply of medicine for every patient. Still, the pharmacist must check the order and the doses of medicine prepared before they are delivered or given to patients. Also in hospitals and home health care pharmacies, technicians prepare intravenous (IV) packs, using sterile techniques, under the supervision of the hospital pharmacist.

What are the working conditions for a Pharmacy Technician?
Pharmacy Technicians work in clean, organized, well-lighted, and well-ventilated areas. Most of the workday is spent on their feet. 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, particularly in facilities, such as hospitals and retail pharmacies, that are open 24 hours a day. As their seniority increases, technicians often acquire increased control over the hours they work. There are many opportunities for part-time work in both retail and hospital settings.

Is the Pharmacy Technician a growing career?
Good job opportunities are expected for full-time and part-time work, especially for technicians with formal training or previous experience. Job openings for pharmacy technicians will result from the expansion of retail pharmacies and other employment settings and from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the work force.

Employment of pharmacy technicians is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2014 because as the population grows and ages, demand for pharmaceuticals will increase dramatically. The increased number of middle-aged and elderly people – who use more prescription drugs than younger people – will spur demand for technicians in all practice settings. With advances in science, more medications are becoming available to treat a greater number of conditions.