Welcome! My name is Mayur Vibhakar Rph I am a Pharmacist and a former pharmacy tech. I created this site to provide pharmacy tech information for those considering entry into the field of pharmacy. If this sounds like you then please read on...

The field of pharmacy is wide and diverse providing many opportunities and settings to work in. The quickest way to gain entry into this field is to become a certified pharmacy tech, also known as pharm tech or pharmacy technician.

Note: Detailed information on each of the following topics below can be accessed by clicking the appropriate links at the bottom of the page or from the navigation buttons on the left, please take your time to review the FREE valuable information presented on this site, it will save you a lot of time in your research. Make sure you bookmark this site so you can return back here quickly.

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• What is a Pharmacy tech?
• Employment outlook
• Careers
• Classes
• Certification
• Job Openings
• Resumes
• Practice Tests
• Study Guides
• Salary Information

What is a Pharmacy tech?
The basic definition is, someone who works under the supervision of a licensed Pharmacist, is accountable to the supervising Pharmacist and performs activities delegated by him/her that require certain skills and knowledge. Bottom line.... Pharmacy Techs and Pharmacists work as a team to manage and complete the day to day Pharmacy operations. Each is dependent on the other to maintain efficiency.

Employment outlook
Employment is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2012 and beyond due to the needs of a larger and older population. Job openings will result from the expansion of retail pharmacies and other employment settings, and from the need to replace workers who leave the labor force. (Dept of Labor). As you can see, this is a field that is in demand and will continue to be so as the elderly population grows and the general healthcare needs of the population grow.

Careers
The most common types of settings are listed below:

• Retail – these include supermarkets and grocery stores, independent mom & pop pharmacies and your typical corner drugstore.
• Hospital – well, this one’s self explaining.
• Mail order – this is a type of setting where medications are packaged in bulk and shipped in bulk to patients through the mail.
• Home health - this is a type of setting where medications are packaged and sent to patients to their home where a nurse or caregiver may administer medications to the patient when a patient is unable or unwilling to do it for themselves.
• Long term care – similar to mail order setting.
• Compounding pharmacies – specialize in creating custom medications that aren’t available commercially.
• Teaching – this may include training future Pharmacy Techs for certification or training new employees in Pharmacy operations for the company they work for.

Classes
There are 2 main options available for training. The most common types are outlined below.

• Board Exam preparation programs
• Training at a community or technical college

I. Board exam preparation programs – These are the best programs to attend, costs are low and completion times are relatively fast. Since the completion times are fast, students are able to retain what they’ve learned whereas with a community or technical college that may take 9 months - 1 year for course completion; students often end up having to go back and re-learn what they learned 9 months ago not to mention the thousands of dollars they owe the college in the form of student loans. Re-learning what you previously learned ends up wasting time and time is the one thing you cannot afford to waste because the certification exam is only 3 times a year and if you’re too busy re-learning what you learned 9 months ago then you’ll end up missing the exam deadline and will have to wait until the next one. More on certification will be discussed below. Please use your judgment when selecting programs for training. Some things to consider are completion time, cost, instructor experience and accessibility, pass rate for students that have taken the course and past student testimonials.

II. Training at a community or technical college – As mentioned above, with this type of training the costs are too high and can run into the thousands, you’re in debt before you even start plus the time required to complete coursework may exceed 9 months to 1 year, interestingly, community or technical colleges may tell you that you need an associates degree in order to work as a Pharmacy Technician, this is NOT true, I can confidently tell you this; since being a Pharmacist, part of my job also includes hiring Pharmacy personnel and there have been no guidelines in my 9 year experience as a Pharmacist that ever indicated that in order for me to hire a Pharmacy Tech I have to make sure he/she has an associates degree. All that is needed is certification; this is achieved by passing the board exam. More on the board exam will be discussed below.

Certification
All right! Still with me? Good!, as I mentioned above, in spite of what community or technical colleges may tell you, you DO NOT necessarily need to have an associates degree in order to work as a Pharmacy Tech (laws may vary by state, check with your state first). You do however; need to pass the board exam. This brings us to the certification process, depending on the state you live in, some states require mandatory licensing of Pharmacy Techs which means in addition to taking the national board exam your state may also require you take a state test.

A few years ago Pharmacy Techs could be hired by employers without certification but recently the rise in medication errors due to untrained Pharmacy Techs has prompted employers to hire based on whether an individual has passed the board exam or not, or is he/she planning on taking the exam in the near future? After all, the board exam isn’t easy and if you can pass the exam then most likely you have put in the effort to obtain training. To employers it doesn’t matter whether you’ve paid thousands and attended a community or technical college or paid $499 to attend an exam preparation program, all they care about is whether you’re certified or not. Certification makes employers less nervous about hiring you.

Job Openings
Once you’ve passed the exam it is time to start searching for jobs. One of the ways to search for jobs is to start with your local Sunday newspaper although your weekday papers may also have job ads but the Sunday paper seems to have more employer ads, probably because more people are at home on Sundays and have time to read the paper.Whatever the case, the newspaper is a good source to start with. Before you start your search and apply for jobs you should make sure you have an updated resume ready to submit to the employer.

Other ways to find out about current openings is through friends and acquaintances who work in the industry. However, the best way to search for jobs is the internet. The net is an extremely powerful and useful resource for job hunting since most employers nowadays use the internet either exclusively or in combination with newspapers to display their openings, the internet in most cases is cheaper to advertise on compared to a regular newspaper.

Resumes
Resumes are important documents for any job seeker, the resume should describe your experience, education, skills, qualifications and certifications. It should be precise and to the point. Employers usually just glance at resumes and so your resume should quickly convey to the potential employer your skills and why you would be good for their company. A resume should always be accompanied by a cover letter.

Practice Tests
These are valuable tools either on their own or in addition to a training program for preparation for the board exam. If you’re new to Pharmacy then they would prove valuable if you are also enrolled in a training program since you would have to have prior knowledge in order to take a practice test. In most cases it is assumed you already have the required knowledge and are attempting the practice test to reveal your weak and strong areas before taking the real exam.

Study Guides
These are also valuable in addition to a training program for preparing for the board exam. Again, with study guides prior knowledge is assumed and the main purpose is to brush up on the knowledge you’ve already acquired through experience or training.

Salary Information
I bet this is the one topic of discussion you’ve been waiting for, that is if you didn’t skip straight to this section. I receive a lot of questions from potential and current students regarding what kind of a salary they can expect after certification. The answer to this question is not straightforward or cut and dry as most people would expect, instead, it is dependent on a number of factors.

For further detailed pharmacy tech information on the above topics click the links below.