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Term Effective:
Spring 2010
Description:
The Pharmacy Technician Certificate of Achievement prepares students to be registered pharmacy technicians and for employment in a variety of pharmacy settings. Upon successful completion of the program, students will be awarded the Pharmacy Technician certificate and are qualified to apply to the California State Board of Pharmacy for registration as a pharmacy technician. Registration is a legal requirement for employment. Graduates of the certificate program are also encouraged to sit for the National Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam. While not currently a state requirement for employment, many employers provide increased compensation to pharmacy technicians once they become nationally certified.
For students interested in an Associate Degree, a Pharmacy Technician major is available.
Pharmacy technicians work under the supervision of licensed pharmacists to perform technical duties in the systematic operation of the pharmacy--providing health care services and medications to patients. Technicians may perform many of the same duties as pharmacists; however, all of a technician's work must be checked by a pharmacist before medicine can be dispensed to a patient.
Duties may include, but are not limited to: 1) compounding (measuring, weighing, and mixing) medicinal drugs; 2) preparing and labeling medicines; 3) filling bottles and capsules with the correct quantity of medicine; 4) issuing medicines to customers; 5) stocking and taking inventory of prescription and over the counter medications; 6) maintaining patients' medication profiles on computerized or written records or forms; 7) filling orders for unit doses and prepackaged pharmaceuticals; and 8) preparing insurance claim forms. Depending on the position, the technician may also manage third party billing, answer telephones, direct customers to items or to the pharmacist for medication consultation, receive written prescriptions, clean and sterilize dispensing bottles and instruments, answer questions regarding non-drug products, and operate a cash register. Since pharmacy technicians interact daily with co-workers, patients and health care professionals, good communication and interpersonal skills are essential.
A licensed pharmacy technician can find employment in retail pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, home health care pharmacies, nursing home pharmacies, clinic pharmacies, mail order prescription pharmacies, and with pharmaceutical companies. Employment opportunities for graduates of community college Pharmacy Technician programs are excellent. Changes in the California State Pharmacy Law requiring registration have created an increasing demand for trained pharmacy technicians.
Program Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this major, the student will be able
to:
- Pharmacologically classify a drug after having been presented
with its generic name, brand (trade) name, chemical name and
indication;
- interpret current federal and state legislation and name the
agencies regulating the practice of pharmacy;
- create patient profiles utilizing information obtained from the
prescription and the patient;
- read and write proper medical notation on the drug order and
interpret information on drug labels and stock bottles;
- calculate the oral dosages of drugs, both solid and liquid forms
based on currently accepted pharmaceutical mathematics;
- describe the pharmacological action, therapeutic effects, common
side effects, doses and drug interactions of common medications
prescribed to treat dysfunction of selected body systems; and
- describe common pharmaceutical measuring, weighing and
compounding devices and accurately use the metric, apothecary,
avoirdupois and household systems to count and measure.
Successful completion of the Pharmacy Technician Program qualifies the student to apply to the California State Board of Pharmacy for licensure as a pharmacy technician, which is a legal requirement for employment. Graduates are encouraged to sit for the National Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam. Currently not a requirement, many employers provide increased compensation to pharmacy technicians once they become nationally certified.
Recommended Sequence of Courses
See the Health Sciences department website for more information about the program.
Program Requirements:
The requirements for the Pharmacy Technician Certificate program are:
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Complete 23 units from
- Pharmacy Technician Requirements
| Pharmacy Technician Requirements - complete 23.00 units |
| PHARM 150 | Introduction to Pharmacy Technician | 3.00 |
| PHARM 151 | Pharmaceutical Fundamentals | 3.00 |
| PHARM 152 | Ambulatory Pharmacy Practice | 2.00 |
| PHARM 153 | Dosage Calculations | 2.00 |
| PHARM 154A | Retail Clinical 1 | 1.00 |
| PHARM 154B | Retail Clinical 2 | 3.00 |
| PHARM 155 | Pharmacology | 4.00 |
| PHARM 156 | Dispensing and Compounding | 3.00 |
Complete a combination totaling at least 2.00 units from the following:
| | Course | Description | Units |
|---|
| PHARM 101 | Applied Therapeutics and Pharmaceutical Concepts for PT | 2.00 |
PHARM 157 AND
| Hospital Pharmacy Practice for the Pharmacy Technician | 0.50 |
| PHARM 157L | Hospital Pharmacy Clinical Experience | 1.50 |
Term Effective:
Spring 2010
The requirements for this program of study are effective beginning the semester shown above. If you began working on this program before the effective semester, you may not be affected by the changes. Consult with the program contact person or the department chair to determine your eligibility to complete the program under previous requirements.
Term Inactive:
Summer 2011
Program Requirements Notes:
Course Completion of PHARM 150 Introduction to Pharmacy Technician is required before taking any other PHARM courses in the program.
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