New pharmacy tech...need advice

[DrSassyPants]

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How long does it take to be comfortable as a pharmacy tech? I've worked 2 days, and I can run the register fine, but everything else is pretty confusing. I hate the way they are training me. The pharmacy manager told me to "observe and jump in when i'm comfortable." Well, it's hard to observe somebody using the computer when they are hitting buttons at a mile an hour and not explaining anything. Even when try to explain stuff, I find they can't come down to my level to explain it.
I know it's too early to expect myself to know it all but i feel it's going to be hard to learn this way. I really just need a pep talk and advice from somebody who's been through it. Thanks!

 

[BTB]

I work with 2 other techs, both of whom have been with the store for 4 or 5 years. I've been there 6 months. Our store - and I will generalize and say our drugstore CHAIN - pays techs next to nothing.

That being said, it's still an alright place to work but there are ongoing training and communication issues. I.e., if there's something someone else (a regular or floater pharmacist, a tech) has done incorrectly, a "blame-o-gram" gets posted.

In my experience, it's a lot more effective to (1) train the person, and train the person to do things right, in the first place and (2) speak with the person one-on-one when possible to address the training issue and make sure the person knows what to do going forward. This passive-aggressive method of communicating solely through "FYI:" notes really grates on me.

My computer system training lasted all of about 20 minutes on my first day with the one tech whose normal speaking voice is actually so loud that my ears rang after she was done her training session with me (she lives with Grandma, Grandma is apparently stone deaf). Lucky for me I learn fast, or I would have suffered permanent hearing loss.

 

[fairyofsong]

How long does it take to be comfortable as a pharmacy tech? I've worked 2 days, and I can run the register fine, but everything else is pretty confusing. I hate the way they are training me. The pharmacy manager told me to "observe and jump in when i'm comfortable." Well, it's hard to observe somebody using the computer when they are hitting buttons at a mile an hour and not explaining anything. Even when try to explain stuff, I find they can't come down to my level to explain it.
I know it's too early to expect myself to know it all but i feel it's going to be hard to learn this way. I really just need a pep talk and advice from somebody who's been through it. Thanks!

First of all, don't get down on yourself. When you work in a pharmacy, you don't really understand how much knowledge you acquire. What seems obvious to me, may be completely foreign to you. That's understandable. I've worked in a pharmacy for 5 years and I too can fly through the computer commands without much thought. When I first started, I waited on customers and did the register for several weeks. THEN I started counting pills and putting them in the bottles. The labels had already been processed so I was not responsible for the computer part yet. After I was comfy with that, I began putting numbers in for refills... and eventually entering new RX's. It takes a lot of time so just start small. You WILL catch on! 😉 Good luck!

 

[ForgetMeNot]

When I first started, I waited on customers and did the register for several weeks. THEN I started counting pills and putting them in the bottles. The labels had already been processed so I was not responsible for the computer part yet. After I was comfy with that, I began putting numbers in for refills... and eventually entering new RX's. It takes a lot of time so just start small. You WILL catch on! 😉 Good luck!

I second this idea. It's much easier if you start with learning just one task at a time instead of trying to do all the tasks that a tech does. Is it possible to ask your manager about trying this approach?

 

[chloejane]

It will take a few months to really get comfortable in the pharmacy probably. Don't worry if it does, I think this is a normal period of time to adjust and learn. When I started several years ago, I gradually incorporated new 'tasks' to my duties as I got comfortable, and took advantage of slow times to ask questions and get more involved in filling (when there was someone with enough time to work with me or be inturrupted frequently). Don't worry though, you'll get comfortable more quickly than you think!
Try not to take "FYI" notes too personally either. I think often techs become intimidated when someone new is hired and need to demonstrate their power every so often by leaving snotty notes or something along those lines... at least that's how it is where I'm at right now. I try to follow the advice included in the catty comments and seem to be pleasing the pharmacists, if not the 'head technician' (as she has dubbed herself- there are only 2 of us and I work ~10 hours a week; she certainly isn't in danger of losing that role to me!)
Good luck!

 

[DrSassyPants]

Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate the advice, and I'm gonna try to remember how I felt at first when I get the chance to train people one day. I actually worked again today, and the techs have warmed up to me and been willing to show me more stuff. Everything doesn't seem so foreign anymore. It doesn't hurt that it is reaaaalllly slow at this store. At one point, me and the pharmacist were playing MahJong tiles on the computers, and another tech was reading a book! Makes for a long day though. Thanks again!

 

[jboogie]

Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate the advice, and I'm gonna try to remember how I felt at first when I get the chance to train people one day. I actually worked again today, and the techs have warmed up to me and been willing to show me more stuff. Everything doesn't seem so foreign anymore. It doesn't hurt that it is reaaaalllly slow at this store. At one point, me and the pharmacist were playing MahJong tiles on the computers, and another tech was reading a book! Makes for a long day though. Thanks again!

Just one bit of advice I give to the techs I train. It may take some time to learn everything, but make up for it with vigor. It will come sooner than you think. Its important to remember that there are many, many things that only a pharmacist can do. To make up for this, what you can do, do it all so that the pharmacist does not have to. Clean, order, maintain inventory, resolve T/P issues, count, fill scripts, etc, etc, etc. Make it much easier on the pharmacist and you will gain more experience and be a better employee. Do not let the pharmacist direct, be his/her partner and ensure he'she is succsful everyday by keeping his/her time and mind free to be a real pharmacist.

Just my two cents.

 

[Brock1385]

How long does it take to be comfortable as a pharmacy tech? I've worked 2 days, and I can run the register fine, but everything else is pretty confusing. I hate the way they are training me. The pharmacy manager told me to "observe and jump in when i'm comfortable." Well, it's hard to observe somebody using the computer when they are hitting buttons at a mile an hour and not explaining anything. Even when try to explain stuff, I find they can't come down to my level to explain it.
I know it's too early to expect myself to know it all but i feel it's going to be hard to learn this way. I really just need a pep talk and advice from somebody who's been through it. Thanks!

How many new jobs have you had? The pharmacy tech job was the second job that I had after working at my first job for three and a half years. Getting a new job is just awkward. It just is weird. No one can be expected to learn stuff by seeing someone elses fingers quickly hitting buttons on a keyboard nor should any pharmacist want you to learn that way. It really takes some getting used to. I have wanted to do pharmacy since my junior year in high school, and I finally got a job at a pharmacy before my first year of college. It was so weird that I questioned whether the pharmacy thing was for me. But please listen to me when I tell you to hang in there. I have been there almost a year now, and I have a love for pharmacy that is greater than I could have imagined. I seriously dreaded going to work everyday for a few weeks because the anticipation gave me an uneasy feeling. But I love it now more than anything else that I could think about doing. If you have been there for a long time and you still dont like things then maybe you could start to worry, but I can tell you right now that its not going to happen. Give yourself a good amount of time to adjust.... You'll end up loving it I promise you.

 

[RLK]

I never realized how tiring it is to stand for 8 hours or more at a time. I never really thought of how people who work at a pharmacy have to do this until I started working at one. I wonder if people ever get used to that.

 

[trishias]

Just one bit of advice I give to the techs I train. It may take some time to learn everything, but make up for it with vigor. It will come sooner than you think. Its important to remember that there are many, many things that only a pharmacist can do. To make up for this, what you can do, do it all so that the pharmacist does not have to. Clean, order, maintain inventory, resolve T/P issues, count, fill scripts, etc, etc, etc. Make it much easier on the pharmacist and you will gain more experience and be a better employee. Do not let the pharmacist direct, be his/her partner and ensure he'she is succsful everyday by keeping his/her time and mind free to be a real pharmacist.

Just my two cents.

👍 Good advice.