If you have been thinking about becoming a pharmacy technician, the Pharmacy Technician Ashworth College Online program is a very good way to do it. Online courses are fantastic because they allow an individual to improve their knowledge and skills and study for a career part-time whilst they are still earning an income. This is especially beneficial for those who could not afford to give up their current jobs in order to go to college full-time.
Pharmacy technicians assist licensed pharmacists to dispense prescription medication. They work in hospitals and retail pharmacies, including those found in grocery and drug stores. They work under the direct supervision of qualified pharmacists who review all prescriptions before the technician hands the medication to the customer/patient. Apart from preparing a variety of medications, including intravenous medications, they may also make hospital rounds to dispense medication to patients.
Job Outlook
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were approximately 334,400 pharmacy technicians employed in the more than 50,000 pharmacies across the U.S. in 2010. With the inroads the medical fraternity is making regarding diseases, there are more and more prescription medications arriving on the market daily. This, together with the fact that individuals are living longer these days and the fact that the baby-boomer generation is entering old age, means that there is going to be an increasing need for pharmacy technicians over the next decade or so. Employment is expected to grow by a staggering 32% in the 2010 to 2020 decade.
Important Qualities Needed
- Customer Service – as pharmacy technicians spend most of their time dealing with customers or patients, it is necessary that they are polite and helpful. The individuals that they interact with may also be ill and grumpy, so patience is another required attribute for a pharmacy technician.
- Detail Oriented – dispensing prescription medication is something that can result in serious health problems if mistakes are made. It is imperative that a pharmacy technician is someone who is very detail-oriented and precise so that complications are avoided, even though it is the pharmacist who is ultimately responsible for ensuring the safety of all medications dispensed.
- Organizational Skills – the job of a pharmacy technician involves balancing various responsibilities, which means that pharmacy technicians must be unflappable, organized and able to multi-task.
The Duties Of A Pharmacy Technician
Pharmacy technicians perform a variety of tasks within the scope of their work, which can typically include:
- Accepting payment for prescriptions
- Answering phone calls from customers
- Calling insurance carriers
- Counting tablets
- Compounding and mixing medications
- Measuring medications for prescriptions
- Ordering OTC medications
- Packaging and labeling prescription medications
- Preparing ointments and salves
- Preparing third-party billing statements
- Processing insurance claims
- Taking down information needed to fill prescriptions from customers and health professionals
- Tracking inventory
- Updating account information
The Pharmacy Technician Ashworth College Online Program
The online pharmacy technician program offered at Ashworth College allows you to study online at your own pace, in the comfort of your own home, and whilst continuing to earn a living. You can start at any time, and when you graduate you will be afforded an accredited Pharmacy Technician Diploma, which will allow you to work under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist.
The program should take you less than 6 months to complete, and is very affordable. The program covers the dosage calculations, indications, side effects, and administration methods of all the major classes of drugs. Knowledgeable instructors with many years of experience in the field will teach you all the latest pharmaceutical procedures.
Everything You Need Is Provided
Ashworth College provides absolutely everything that you need in order to complete your online studies as a pharmacy technician. All study materials, textbooks, and academic support is included in the price of the tuition.
The Pharmacy Technician course includes:
- A set of a comprehensive pharmacy technician textbook with study guides
- Career search guides
- Instructor guidance
- Invitations to live events with career experts
- Networking with an active Ashworth student and alumni social community
- Open book, online exams
- Time management guides
- Unlimited tutoring, should it be required
Once you have completed your reading assignments, you can go online and take the exam, in your own time and when you feel you are ready.
Pharmacy Technician Course Outline
The Pharmacy Technician Course consists of 15 easy-to-follow, comprehensive, challenging and stimulating lessons. Each of the lessons contains a subject-matter preview and objectives, an introductory note from the instructor and a vocabulary builder of new words and terms. After this is the reading assignments and the practice exercises which help you to review and check your knowledge of what you have learned. At the end of the lesson is an open-book exam, which may be taken online.
The 15 Pharmacy Technician Course Lessons
Lesson l: Introduction to Pharmacy – This first lesson is an introduction to the practice of pharmacy and includes a lengthy explanation of commonly terms used in the pharmacy profession.
Lesson 2: Pharmacology in Practice – This lesson covers the definitions, sources and uses of the basic tools of pharmacy – drugs.
Lesson 3: Dosage Forms and Routes of Administration; Pharmaceutical Measurements and Calculations – Lesson 3 covers the ways that medicines are introduced into the body, and introduces the basic measurement systems and mathematical techniques used in a pharmacy
Lesson 4: Dispensing Medications and the Community Pharmacy – In this lesson you will learn about dispensing medication, purchasing, receiving, the mechanics of billing and inventory management in a pharmacy setting
Lesson 5: Hospital Pharmacy Practice – This lesson covers pharmacy operations in a hospital setting
Lesson 6: Non-sterile Pharmaceutical Compounding and Human Relations – In this lesson you will learn how all about the protection of patients and healthcare providers from infectious diseases, and the techniques used to prepare sterile intravenous products
Lesson 8: Medication Safety – Lesson 8 covers the prevalence and potential adverse effects caused secondary to medical errors as well as processes and procedures which one can implement in order to prevent such medical errors within the healthcare system.
Lesson 9: The Science of Pharmacology – In this section the processes of getting drugs approved for general use by physicians and issues related to the administration of drugs to individual patients is covered quite extensively.
Lesson 10: Antibiotics, Antifungals, and Antivirals – This lesson introduces you to viruses and fungi and deals with infectious bacteria and the antibiotics that have been developed to treat them.
Lesson 11: Narcotic Pain Relievers, Neurologicals, and Psychiatric Drugs – In this section you will learn how various classes of pain relievers affect the central nervous system.
Lesson 12: Respiratory and Gastrointestinal Drugs – This lesson deals with the pharmacology of respiratory and gastrointestinal drugs
Lesson 13: Urinary System and Cardiovascular Drugs – Lesson 13 covers all the diseases and disorders pertaining to the urinary and cardiovascular systems. You will also learn all about the drug therapies that are used in the prevention and treatment of these disorders and diseases.
Lesson 14: Muscle Relaxants, Non-narcotic Analgesics, Hormones, and Topicals – You will learn the nature, uses and side-effects of all medicinal drugs such as non-narcotic analgesics, muscle relaxants, hormones, and topical creams and ointments
Lesson 15: Chemotherapy and Miscellaneous Pharmaceutical Products – In this final lesson you will learn all biologic and chemotherapeutic drugs such as vitamins, herbs, and antidotes
Once you have completed all of the lessons and feel that you are ready you can go online and take the open-book examination.
Once you graduate you will receive the Ashworth College Pharmacy Technician Diploma.
Tuition Costs
The Pharmacy Technician Ashworth College Online Program is one of the most affordable programs on the Internet. Not only does it cost a mere $659, but if you get in now they have a special 25% discount savings coupon, and you can get all of the above for only $494.
Not only is this program very inexpensive, but it also offers monthly tuition to fit your budget:
- Monthly Payments as Low as $34
- No Finance Charges Ever
- We Accept All Major Credit Cards
Admission
Ashworth College believes that everyone is entitled to an affordable, quality education, irrespective of what an individual’s SAT scores or grade point average may have been. To this end, their team of dedicated advisers and instructors will assist you to make the best of the program and maximize your future potential.
All that you need to enroll in the Pharmacy Technician Program at Ashworth Online is that you must be at least 18 years of age. There are absolutely no educational or experiential prerequisites for this course. As long as you have an interest in the subject matter, you will have no problems in enrolling.
All of the programs are available on an open enrollment basis, and all you have to so in order to apply is to complete a short online application. If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact the Admissions Office on 1-800-957-5412 and speak to an Admissions Advisor.
Accreditation
Ashworth College Online is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC).