How do I become a pharmacy technician?
I am currently a junior in college, wanting to become a licensed pharmacy tech and work part-time in a pharmacy. I am a pre-pharmacy student, so I really need this to be competitive for pharmacy school. So if anyone could answer these questions for me I would really appreciate it!
Do I have to become a licensed pharmacy tech BEFORE I can get hired into a pharmacy, or can I get my licensing after working for a little while?
Do I have to take any classes in order to become certified, or do I just take a certification exam?
If I need to take classes, how do I register for them and how time-consuming are they? And how do I register to take the certification exam?
And also, as I am a full-time student, my schedule is already quite busy. Realistically, what would my chances be of getting hired to work only on the weekends? I would probably not work late shifts, as I am going to need my evenings off for my studies and to allow myself a little time to unwind from the stress of the previous week. But I would, of course, be working normal hours during breaks and summers.
Thank you to anyone who takes the time to answer this, I am just very confused as to what I should do!
Comments
TN state regulations only require you to register with the state board of pharmacy once you have been hired. No license needed or training required. However if you have training, you may be more hireable than other applicants. And training will help you with your certification exam. And since you are going into pharmacy anyway, it would look really good to have that certification credential.
Classes for pharm techs can be done online or in a classroom setting. I would imagine that online would be best for you with your schedule. It isn't too intensive but you will be learning a lot. If you have taken some medical courses already (since you are going into pharmacy) you may be able to go through a course more quickly than the average. You can expect to be done in about 3 months or longer if you can't devote as much time to it.
You can register for classes online. If you want, you can view an online course so you can see what it is like before you register: http://www.careerstep.com/demo/?uid=ref10077 And this particular school is designed to prepare graduates to work in a pharmacy and pass the PTCB exam. Plus they are running a back to school special through the end of the month. But they are an excellent pharm tech school. I have heard great things about them. My sister-in-law took a course from them and she really liked it.
To register for the PTCB certification exam, you go to the pharmacy technician certification board website ptcb.org and you can apply to take the exam there.
As far as working weekends, I wouldn't know- that will depend on your employer. I would imagine that it would be welcomed since most other people would want weekends off. But that is an assumption.
Hope this info is helpful!
Okay you asking a lot but it's simple some states require a license. But all you need to do is take a test in order to get your license your all set u can even teach yourself the information and then take the test without school especially the scam ones who charge 14,000 for a pharmacy tech license which is insane.