Insider Alert; What it's Like to be a Pharmacy Technician?

Since I got my job as a pharmacy technician, a lot of my friends and family have asked me, “So, what does a pharmacy technician do?” Since I had already been asked, and explained what a pharmacist does, it didn’t surprise me when people got the two occupations confused. Today I wanted to share with everyone the basics of what I do as a pharmacy technician, and why I think it’s such a beneficial job to have before pharmacy school.

Disclaimer: There are absolutely different pharmacy tech arenas as well (for example, my boyfriend is an inpatient pharmacy technician). I’m only speaking in this blog to what I know as an ambulatory pharmacy technician.

To give you a little context, as an ambulatory pharmacy technician, my main job is to make sure that prescriptions are dispensed accurately and efficiently. That means, the instructions have to be correct on the label (which the pharmacist verifies), and the correct medication and quantity must be counted out (the pharmacist also verifies this).

So, here are some things you can expect if you get a job as a pharmacy technician.

You fill prescriptions.

Like I said above, this is probably your biggest responsibility as a technician.

You will interact with a lot of patients

In the type of pharmacy setting that I work in, I interact with a lot of patients. This can happen in a variety of different ways. Most of our patients, since I’m still inside a hospital, are being discharged, or coming from the emergency department to pick up the medications their doctors have given them. We also have regular patients who get their prescriptions filled through the hospital pharmacy (so not all of our patients were in the hospital).

You will learn A TON

This is probably the biggest benefit from working in the pharmacy. I have learned SO much. The first thing you really get a grasp on is what drug names are, and what the brand name for certain drugs are. For example, Prilosec is the brand name Omeprazole, which is a medication frequently used to treat acid reflux and heartburn. Knowing the brand names comes in handy, because most patients that are calling to refill prescriptions give you the brand name of the medication, not the generic (which is likely the one that was dispensed since its cheaper). You also learn, as you can see from my example, what common medications are used for.

Lastly, you really get a sense for your fit in the pharmacy profession. As soon as I started working as a technician, I knew I was going to love what I do. One of my favorite things to do at work is talk with the pharmacists and get a sense for how they feel about the profession, in addition to observing their roles in the pharmacy.

Hopefully this was helpful to any of you thinking about a career in pharmacy :)

As always, stay positive and keep working hard for what you believe you were meant to do!

Allison

Another small disclaimer, any words and opinions in this article, are my own, not that of the organization for which I am employed.