Pharmacy Technician Essay

Pharmacy technicians assist and support licensed pharmacists in providing health care and medications to patients. Pharmacy technicians must have a broad knowledge of pharmacy practice, and be skilled in the techniques required to order, stock, package, and compound and otherwise prepare medications. Under the supervision of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians work in hospital pharmacies, community pharmacies, home health care pharmacies, long-term care pharmacies, clinic pharmacies, nuclear medicine pharmacies, health maintenance organization pharmacies, compounding pharmacies, veterinary pharmacies and in mail order prescription pharmacies. Pharmacy technicians sometimes assume responsibility in areas relating to technology and informatics in the pharmacy. In addition, some pharmacy technicians have been employed in non-traditional settings by medical insurance companies,managed care organizations, medical computer software companies, drug manufacturing companies, drug wholesale companies, food processing companies, and as instructors in pharmacy technician training programs. Pharmacy technicians are support staff in hospital and community pharmacies. In addition to serving customers and patients, they may dispense medications under the supervision of a pharmacist. Since each state regulates pharmacy technicians, the rules that cover their training and practice usually differ from state to state.
During the process of handling medications for dispensing to the patient, a pharmacy technician may have the opportunity to divert, or steal, medications. If you have a history of drug-related offenses, for example, you may not be able to get into a pharmacy technician program. Pharmacies are much more likely to perform background checks than they once were. A background check could include research into criminal activity, driving offenses such as a DUI, evidence of fraud or even a credit