6 Essential Skills Needed to be a Pharmacy Technician

Are you thinking about becoming a pharmacy technician? This job has a growing demand for workers, so it could be a good option for you. However, there are some necessary skills for you to have if you are considering working in this type of position. Check out six of the essential skills you will need to be a pharmacy technician below.

• Customer Service Skills – The main duty of a pharmacy technician is to serve customers. This means getting medications for customers, describing side effects, answering questions, and discussing payment and billing. You will need strong customer service skills in this profession. When it comes to medical issues and medicine, people can be stressed and emotional. That means a pharmacy tech will need to be calm and reassuring as they attend to the needs of the customer. You will want to enjoy working with others and helping customers if you are considering work as a pharmacy tech.
• Computer Skills – Basic computer skills will also be necessary as well as knowledge of different software programs used in pharmacies. These computer skills will be important because the prescription orders will be done online. Billing and ordering medication will also be done online. There are specific software programs that are used in the pharmacy field, and you can receive training on those from your employer or from a pharmacy technician school. A pharmacy tech school will go over information like this so that you are more prepared for the workplace.
• Basic Knowledge of Pharmacology – Pharmacology describes the study of how drugs or medications act within the body. This is a biomedical branch of science that involves noting the effects and side effects of medications. It is important for pharmacy techs to have a basic knowledge of pharmacology to help them do their job. They will be passing out prescription medications to customers, and they will have to describe how the customer is to use the medication. This will include the dosage and how often to take the medication. Pharmacy techs will also have to describe the basic side effects to the customer when they hand out the medication. The doctor should have already gone over this information with the customer, but it is a pharmacy technician’s job to review the information as they hand out the prescription.
• Communication Skills – Communication skills will also be essential for a pharmacy technician. Customer service skills are only one type of communication you will have to do as a pharmacy technician. Pharmacy techs will have to communicate with their coworkers, pharmacists, insurance people, doctors, and nurses. As a pharmacy tech, you will likely have other people working with you in the pharmacy other than the pharmacist themselves. You will have to coordinate tasks with other pharmacy technicians or assistants. You also may have to call doctors, nurses, or hospitals to double check prescription information. You may have to speak to insurance companies about billing as well. As you can see, there are a lot of different communication demands for a pharmacy tech.
• Pharmacy Calculations – You will also need basic math skills and knowledge of pharmacy calculations to work as a pharmacy technician. The pharmacists themselves will be doing most of the calculations, but you will be required to count pills and do some basic calculations as well.
• Organizational Skills – Organizational skills are essential to ensure that the pharmacy is running as it should be. There will be a lot of different paperwork, medications, and supplies that need to be organized within the pharmacy so that things are not lost or misplaced. There will likely already be an organizational system in place for many of the things in the pharmacy, so you will have to be sure to stick to it.

Above are the basic skills needed to be a pharmacy technician. Do you feel like you have these skills and abilities? You do not have to worry if you don’t feel like you have these skills yet. You can learn these skills through a pharmacy technician school.

A pharmacy technician program can be completed in as little as nine months at FVI School of Nursing and Technology. This program will include topics like pharmacy principles, pharmacy calculations, pharmacology, and more. You will learn the skills and abilities that are necessary to succeed in this line of work. Click here if you would like to learn more about the pharmacy technician program at FVI School of Nursing and Technology. You could apply today, and get started on a promising career soon.

For more information about graduation rates, the median debt of students who completed the program, and other important information, please visit our website:
https://fvi.edu/consumer-information/