Pharmacy Technician Career Opportunities

In a previous article, we discussed how you could receive pharmacy technician training in under a year.

This article will give you some information about possible duties and jobs that pharmacy technicians may perform.

Pharmacy Technician Jobs
Pharmacy Technician jobs can include working in hospitals, nursing homes, and retirement homes. Pharmacy technicians work under the guidance of a Pharmacist, and verify prescriptions with the physician and pharmacist prior to preparing medicines. Obviously, pharmacy technician jobs vary by facility and state regulations, but that’s a typical process before filling a prescription.

The U.S. Department of Labor gives some encouraging statistics about pharmacy technician jobs:

Employment of pharmacy technicians is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2014 because as the population grows and ages, demand for pharmaceuticals will increase dramatically.

The increased number of middle-aged and elderly people—who use more prescription drugs than younger people—will spur demand for technicians in all practice settings. With advances in science, more medications are becoming available to treat a greater number of conditions.

Pharmacy Technician Job Statistics
The U.S. Department of Labor also gives some interesting stats about the number people in the pharmacy technician career field:

Pharmacy technicians held about 258,000 jobs in 2004. About 7 out of 10 jobs were in retail pharmacies, either independently owned or part of a drugstore chain, grocery store, department store, or mass retailer. About 2 out of 10 jobs were in hospitals and a small proportion was in mail-order and Internet pharmacies, clinics, pharmaceutical wholesalers, and the Federal Government.

Pharmacy Technician Salary
A Pharmacy Technician salary will vary depending on your location, and your type of training and experience. The U.S. Department of Labor gives the following Pharmacy Technician salary averages:

Median hourly earnings of wage and salary pharmacy technicians in May 2004 were $11.37. The middle 50 percent earned between $9.40 and $13.85. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $7.96, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $16.61.

Pharmacy Technician Career Opportunities
Pharmacy Technicians can gain positions in both healthcare facilities and retail establishments including: hospitals, medical centers, outpatient clinics, urgent care centers, and pharmacies.

Request information about our Pharmacy Technician program.

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