Pharmacy Technician

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Pharmacy schools are designed to train the aspiring individual into a fully licensed certified pharmacist. Unlike the traditional university that offers a wide range of academic training pharmacy schools only offer courses that are directly related to becoming a pharmacist.

And because pharmacy schools are scattered and abundant throughout the country it's relatively easy to find one close to home that one can attend to take the next step in their lives and career and become a highly trained and qualified pharmacist.

Like many fields today, age in not a limiting factor in pursuing a pharmacist career - pharmacist students range from those just out of high school to those looking for new career paths in their 40's and beyond.

Some also decide to upgrade from having been working as a pharmacy technician to working as a pharmacist. The reasons are as different as the individuals pursing this path but the primary reasons are normally income, challenge and prestige.

The field of pharmacology is an ever expanding field with the aging of America and is one of the few career paths that promise great opportunities today and well into the foreseeable future.

People are living longer due to advancements in science and medicine and because of the high standard of living that most Americans have enjoyed for a long time. And because science will continue to progress in leaps and bounds, highly trained people in this field will continue to be in high demand.

When most people think of the skills needed to be a pharmacist they only think of the knowledge needed related to medicines and their related conditions but one vital often overlooked skill needed for success are people skills. Without the ability to interact with others in a friendly, personable way you will find it difficult to succeed either as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician because in most pharmacy settings, you find yourself in close contact with lots of people on a daily basis.

As a pharmacist you need to be able to interact with pharmacy technicians, pharmacist aides and of course the customers that come into the pharmacy to get their prescriptions filled or to simply ask for advice. On a more intimate level you will also be required to interact and get to know some physicians office personnel and the doctors of the patients to need prescriptions filled. Because you will be dealing with such a wide variety of medicines you will also be dealing with a wide array of patients and wide array of doctors that normally specialize in those different conditions.

Because patients can suffer from conditions as mild as a skin rash to a chronic life threatening disease, the patients and conditions that you will encounter and the questions they will ask will be varied and because many people look to a pharmacist as kind of their second doctor a courteous bedside manner is as important to a pharmacist as it is to any doctor. Each patient is unique and because they are looking to you with trust and hope and it is imperative you treat accordingly.

Once again, people skills are essential for a pharmacist and so if you like to keep to yourself this probably isn't a career path you should pursue but if you like people and you like science and medicine it's definitely one of the best opportunities available today.

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