Top 50 Pharmacy Technician Programs
With a constantly growing elderly population, there is a growing need for pharmacy technicians in the workforce. The field has a projected growth rate of 9% , which is faster than the national average. Technicians help maintain the medication profiles, assist pharmacists, organize file systems, and compound the medications.
Most states require that pharmacy technicians be certified. They must pass the national certification exam and then register within the state they work. A traditional or online pharmacy technician education will provide students with knowledge in mathematics, pharmacology, pharmacy law, compounding, billing, and customer service. Programs also provide hands-on experience and prepare students to sit for the national certification exam. Most of these programs will take a year or less to complete, but some may take longer and will lead to an associate degree. Many programs will require students to shadow a pharmacist or technician in an active pharmacy environment.
What the Pharmacy Technician Does
Pharmacy technicians can work in hospitals, retail pharmacies, grocery stores, or other healthcare facilities. The average salary for a pharmacy technician is $30,920, but that will increase with experience. A pharmacy technician will work under the supervision of a pharmacist and spend most of their time on their feet. They will perform duties such as:
Data collection from patients
Measure medications
Maintain inventory counts
Package and label prescriptions
Compound Sterile products
Answer phone calls
Process payments
Most pharmacy technicians will work full time. If working in a hospital or 24-hour pharmacy, there are options for multiple shifts, along with working weekends. Attention to detail and listening skills are very important skills for a pharmacy technician to have.
What Are The Best Online Pharmacy Technician Programs?
Top 50 Pharmacy Technician Programs
The Pharmacy Technician Program at NCK is a one year program that will prepare students to take the pharmacy technician certification examination. Graduates receive a certificate and become registered with the Kansas State Board of Pharmacy. Classes include pharmaceutical calculations, pharmacy operations, pharmacology for technicians, and sterile compounding and aseptic technique. The program includes a general education requirement.
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To determine the best pharmacy technician schools, we looked at the most important factors prospective students, mainly common predictors of future success and a school's commitment to online programs. This boils down to admissions rate, student loan default rate, retention rate, graduation rate, and the percent of students enrolled in online classes. All data points are taken from information provided by colleges and universities to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Each factor is weighted evenly in order to give an objective view and determine the 50 best online pharmacy technology programs. To calculate our rankings, we looked at a school's ranking when organized by a single factor, and then averaged each category's ranking to find an overall score: Admissions Rate (20%) + Default Rate (20%) + Retention Rate (20%) + Graduation Rate (20%) + Percent of Students Enrolled in Online Classes (20%) = Final score.