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Course Name
Pharmacy Technician Career Training Program

Contact Hours: 160
Course Description

PLEASE NOTE: Enrollment in this course does not include site location of any clinical work for onsite training as may be required for full certification testing or site location for National Certification testing. Students are responsible for finding locations in their area where clinical work and national testing can be done.


You will complete Four 5-week modules of study. This means you will complete the program in 20 weeks!
  • Module I (5Weeks)
  • Module II (5 Weeks)
  • Module III (5Weeks)
  • Module IV (5weeks)

All weekly assignments are completed on-line and the quick checks are instantly graded. Your will receive the module quizzes and final exam from your instructor. Once completed you will submit these for grading.

Your instructor is always available by email to answer your questions.

Using state-of-the-art training techniques, computer technology and teaching methods we are able to deliver absolutely the best course to our students. Our instructor makes learning this material fun and easy! Here are descriptions of just some of the topics you will study.

  • Pharmacology – You will learn the most commonly used classes of medications, what conditions they are used to treat and how they work in the body.
  • Anatomy and Physiology – Learn about the basic anatomy of all the organ systems of the body, what these structures do and how they are affected by disease.
  • Pharmacy Law and Ethics – Study and explore legal issues surrounding confidentiality, negligence and liability for medical personnel. Learn how to control and maintain narcotic inventories. You will also read about historic pieces of legislation that have shaped the field as we know it today.
  • Medical Terminology – Often, Medical Terminology can seem like a foreign language, but you will find this subject fascinating and easy to learn. We will show you simple ways to learn and decipher medical terminology describing disease states, anatomy and drug information.
  • Pharmacy Practice – Explore available career options to Pharmacy Technicians and gain an overview of the field. You will also learn generalized pharmacy knowledge that is essential to any practice setting, such as how to read prescriptions, etc.
Outcome
You will find many career opportunities as a Pharmacy Technician:

Here are just a few of the opportunities and practice settings available to Pharmacy Technicians. No matter who you are, you can find the perfect practice setting for your individual tastes and preferences.
  • Chain Retail Pharmacies – You can work in a large retail facility with stores all across the country. These technicians have a lot of patient interaction and work very closely with pharmacists and doctor’s offices. These pharmacies will keep you busy filling prescriptions, obtaining refills for your patients and maintaining your patients’ medication histories and profiles. The benefit packages are usually very generous with paid vacations, opportunities for overtime and health insurance.
  • Independent Retail Pharmacy – These are small, independently owned pharmacies. If you like patient interaction, this may be the practice setting for you. Chances are, you will not be as busy as you would in a chain, retail setting, which gives you the opportunity to get to know your patients on a first name basis! You may also have the opportunity for such specialties as compounding or packaging for home health care facilities.
  • Out-Patient Hospital Pharmacy – This setting is similar to a retail pharmacy setting because the technicians have a lot of direct patient interaction and spend a lot of time filling prescriptions. These technicians fill prescriptions for patients that are going home from the hospital. Often, they will fill prescriptions for the employees of the hospital, as well. Because these technicians work within a hospital, there are often opportunities to become cross-trained in the In-Patient Pharmacy, within the hospital.
  • Hospital Pharmacy – You may want to work in a hospital pharmacy. You will not have much patient interaction, rather, your contact will be primarily with pharmacists, doctors and nurses. There are typically many technician positions within a hospital and technicians are generally cross-trained in most of these positions. In smaller hospitals, these tasks may all be performed by a handful of technicians and in larger facilities each position may be the responsibility of one or two technicians.

    In addition:

  • The entry of prescription information and drug history into a pharmacy data system or other pharmacy record keeping system.
  • The preparation of prescription labels or patient information.
  • The removal of the drug to be dispensed from inventory.
  • The counting, measuring, or compounding of the drug to be dispensed.
  • The packaging and labeling of the drug to be dispensed and the repackaging thereof.
  • The stocking or loading of automated dispensing devices or other devices used in the dispensing process.
  • The acceptance of refill authorization from a prescriber or his authorized agent provided there is no change to the original prescription.
Assessment
Evaluation of student performance will be based upon the following criteria:


  • Weekly homework assignments = 1/3 of subject grade;
  • Weekly quizzes = 1/3 of subject grade;
  • Final exams = 1/3 of subject grade.
Required Book(s)
Outline

Module One
  • Pharmacology I
  • Medical Terminology with Human Anatomy I
  • Calculations / Abbreviations
  • Drug Classification and Formulations
  • Pharmacy Governance
  • Pharmacy Practice
  • Module Quiz
Module Two
  • Pharmacology II
  • Medical Terminology with Human Anatomy II
  • Prescription Dispensing
  • Over-The-Counter Products
  • Introduction to Computer Systems and Automation
  • Module Quiz
Module Three
  • Pharmacology III
  • Medical Terminology with Human Anatomy III
  • Interacting with Patients
  • Assisting the Pharmacist
  • Non-Sterile and Sterile Compounding
  • Module Quiz
Module Four
  • Pharmacology III
  • Medical Terminology with Human Anatomy IV
  • Insurance Processing
  • Inventory Control
  • Drug Storage, Recalls and Thefts
  • Quality Assurance
  • Final Exam