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This comprehensive 50 hour course will prepare students to enter the pharmacy field and take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board’s PTCB exam.
Technicians work in hospitals, home infusion pharmacies, community pharmacies and other health care settings – working under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. Course content includes medical terminology specific to the pharmacy, reading and interpreting prescriptions and defining drugs by generic and brand names. Students will learn dosage calculations, I.V. flow rates, drug compounding, dose conversions, dispensing of prescriptions, inventory control and billing and reimbursement.Pharmacy Technicians
Employment Opportunities
Program Requirements
Course Information
Course Fee
Registration
Pharmacy Technicians
Pharmacy Technicians work in pharmacies under the direction of a pharmacist. The primary responsibility of Pharmacy Technicians is filling prescriptions and preparing medications for dispensing to patients. This generally includes retrieving drugs in the correct dosage form and strength, measuring the appropriate amount of the drug and producing a prescription label. Depending on the practice setting, Pharmacy Technicians can also be involved in the admixture of drugs for intravenous use. Other duties may include:
- Checking inventories and ordering supplies,
- receiving and checking in supplies,
- assisting customers,
- general maintenance of pharmacy work areas,
- completion of insurance forms,
- preparation of "bingo cards" for nursing home patients.
This comprehensive 50 hour course prepares students to enter the field of pharmacy as technicians and to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board's PTCB exam.
Employment Opportunities
Pharmacy Technicians may work in retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, home infusion pharmacies, long term care facilities, hospitals, clinics, and large industrial complexes. Demand for individuals who have been trained as Pharmacy Technicians continues due to a national shortage of registered pharmacists, an aging population, and the establishment of a certification for Pharmacy Technicians.
Program Requirements
Students registering for the Pharmacy Technician certification program should have taken math and science classes in high school. A high school diploma or GED is required in order to take the PTCB exam.
Course Information
View upcoming course schedule.
The following subjects are covered in the Pharmacy Technician certification program -
- The role of the pharmacy technician,
- pharmacy history/discussion of different practice settings and the technician certification process,
- recruitment by pharmacy specialty,
- "Evolution of Pharmacy"
- review of the hospital pharmacy setting, retail practice, regulatory agencies involved with a pharmacy practice, long-term care practice setting, mail order pharmacy, and home care pharmacy practice,
- pharmacy measures, roman numerals and abbreviations,
- review of generic drugs, basic biopharmaceuticals, dosage forms, patient profiles,
- prescription label requirements, order transcription, ordering and inventory control, drug pricing, 3rd party reimbursement,
- formularies,unit dose systems, emergency and crash carts, house supplies, automatic stop orders, calculating number of doses required,
- all major classes of drugs including top brand name and generic drugs,
- aseptic technique, handling of sterile products including antineoplastic agent considerations,
- basics of IV solutions, calculating 24 hour supply of IV solutions, percentages and electrolytes preparations,
- the metric system, apothecaries' and avoirdupois systems of measurement,
- children's doses,
- allegation method, math review,
- Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), demonstration of TPN admixture, hands-on practice of IV admixture and parenteral medication preparation.
Course Fee
The course fee of $999.00 includes 50 hours of classroom instruction and textbooks. Read more about the College of Mount Saint Vincent's tuition refund policy.
For more information, please contact SPCS at (718) 405-3322.