Tech training requirements differ countrywide

Drug Store News, August 26, 1991

Pharmacy technician training varies widely.

It can range from a week or so to two years, depending on the setting and the tasks involved, and may be acquired at the workplace or at a community college and technical school. In addition, the military offers a model program, said Mike Eaton, director of operations, Association of Pharmacy Technicians, Madison, Wisc.

Drug Store News For The Pharmacist conducted a Pharmacy Technician Survey of the top 50 drug chains, plus some mass merchandisers and combo chains. One objective was to find out where and how pharmacy technicians working in drug chains are trained. All of the respondents said their companies train techs, either through a formal training program, on the job, or a combination of the two. And 78 percent indicated, "Our company can do a better job of training techs to perform tasks tailored to our needs than an outside training program could."

No pharmacy schools offer pharmacy tech training, mainly because such two-year programs aren't seen as appropriate at large universities, with which most colleges of pharmacy are affiliated, said Carl E. Trinca, executive director, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Some tasks required of retail pharmacy techs differ from tasks hospital techs must perform. For example, chain technicians must know more about third-party plans and processing, while hospital techs are called on to prepare IV solutions and set up unit dose carts.

Community colleges and technical schools generally are turning out more hospital technicians than techs headed for retail pharmacies.

Jan Keresztes, coordinator of the technician training program at South Suburban College, South Holland, Ill., estimates that 90 percent of her pharmacy tech students go into hospital settings, "because of the higher salaries."

South Suburban's program consists of 31 college hours and is geared toward the part-time, "returning adult." Students must take two introductory courses, pharmacy law and pharmacy math, and pass with a C to proceed. They then take pharmacy courses in pharmacy operations, sterile products and pharmacology, and general courses (for example, computer skills). Students also work as interns in hospital or retail settings.

Don Ballington, director of the Pharmacy Technician Program at Midlands Technical College, Columbia, S.C., said most of Midlands' tech students also go into hospital settings. "Right now, we're not fully filling the needs of hospitals," he added, indicating the demand for hospital techs in his area. Ballington asserted that, in his region, "retail technician pay is not competitive with hospital pay," which he said is about $5.25-$5.50 versus $8.00 per hour, respectively.

The Michigan Pharmacists Association, which publishes an annual Pharmacy Technician Economic Survey, found, in its 1990 survey, that the average hourly rate for a hospital technician in Michigan was $8.74 (an average of 40 overall duty hours) and for a chain tech, $7.08 (an average of 30 duty hours). The average hourly rate of a pharmacy certified technician (PCT) was $8.79 (hospital; an average of 40 hours) versus $6.98 (chain; an average of 28 hours). Interestingly, however, the non-PCT hourly rate averaged $7.47 (for an average 39 hours) at chains, more than the average PCT hourly rate.

Increasingly, drug chains are offering two-tier training programs for pharmacy techs, with two pay scales.