5.9 Program: Pharmacy Technician

Program Fit

What personal qualities should someone interested in this career have?

• Perform in an ethical manner in working with peers, faculty, health care staff, patients and customers
• Able to empathize with others
• The ability to remain calm and handle emergencies
• The ability to pay close attention to detail
• Able to make decisions quickly and request assistance/guidance from others as needed
• Able to multitask
• A willingness to keep up to date with new products and practices
• Cooperative/respectful to all members of the health care team
• Able to take charge in a situation and provide direction to others
• Able to work as a member of a team
• Active listening
• Provide feedback to people
• Enjoy working with and caring for people
• Prepared to work with people in vulnerable situations
• Able to communicate with people across the lifespan
• Strong time management/prioritization skills
• Must be self-directed

Typical working conditions for this kind of work:

• Able to accurately recall and apply oral and written procedures
• Must be able to distinguish gradients of colours (need to recognize different pills)
• May be required to work shifts including evenings, weekends and holidays, sometimes under stressful conditions
• Pharmacy technicians are on their feet for most of their shift and may be required to lift and move objects that weigh up to 10 kilograms.

Tasks a graduate may do in the workplace

See Ontario College of Pharmacists website for details.

• Gather and enter patient information and doctors’ prescriptions in computer systems
• Assess prescriptions for completeness
• Receive and transcribe verbal prescriptions from prescribers
• Prepare, package and dispense prescription medications after a pharmacist has determined appropriateness of therapy
• Maintain prescription and inventory record keeping systems
• Maintain proper drug storage and security
• Place and receive orders for stock to maintain inventory
• Provide pharmaceutical care in collaboration with a pharmacist
• Process prescriptions, prepare medications (tablets, suspensions, creams, injectables) and counsel patients on medicine administration and use of diagnostic devices (blood glucose meter)

Becoming a Pharmacy Technician

The Pharmacy Technician program at Fanshawe College is A 60 week, Ontario College Diploma program starting in September each year. The program workload is considered to be heavy with:

• Seven courses in your first semester
• Two hours of study/assignments on average for each hour in class
• 22 hours of class & labs each week (44-66 hour/week commitment)

The courses you would take at Fanshawe College can be found on the Pharmacy Technician page.

Fanshawe Pathfinder: Pharmacy Technician © Fanshawe College used with permission, All Rights Reserved