Pharmacy technician online training???

[KM86]

i was on this website http://rxinsider.com/pharmacy_technician_training_sales.htm

i want to work as a pharm tech right now for experience? It will be easier for me to get hired if certified. Does anyone know If online training is ok? or is it better to goto something like community college for a pharm tech training? how much did it cost u for training in school? how much does it usually cost?

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[FatimaMohamed]

i was on this website http://rxinsider.com/pharmacy_technician_training_sales.htm

i want to work as a pharm tech right now for experience? It will be easier for me to get hired if certified. Does anyone know If online training is ok? or is it better to goto something like community college for a pharm tech training?

i did my pharmacy tech course from PCDI in Georgia...its pretty ok

 

[TennisBoy78]

The pharmacy tech exam is easy! Apply at your chain pharmacies as uncertified. If you dont get in, try Mom and Pop (independent) pharmacies. Volunteer, do anything to get your a** in a pharmacy.

The reason I say this is because working in a pharmacy allows you to be very well prepared for this exam. Tech courses are so elementary, if you want to go to pharmacy school, why would you waste your time with this? Tech courses are designed for high school dropouts who need to be spoonfed towards certification.

Plan of action for you is to (1) get into a pharmacy.

If you cant do this, then do the following:

Buy any certification book online at Amazon. I dont know which ones are better, but you are smart, you can read the reviews and discern which ones are appropriate. Then when you get the book, study drug names and classes (generics very important, but also learn brand names where possible). Then study amoxicillin-ratio type of math problems. Bingo! You will pass the exam. Dont read every little detail in the book, those two types of questions represent maybe 80% of the exam. Other stuff is either common sense like pharmacy procedures, such as technicians cannot counsel patients about medications. DUH! Who doesnt know that?

Save your money!

 

[ad1585]

The pharmacy tech exam is easy! Apply at your chain pharmacies as uncertified. If you dont get in, try Mom and Pop (independent) pharmacies. Volunteer, do anything to get your a** in a pharmacy.

The reason I say this is because working in a pharmacy allows you to be very well prepared for this exam. Tech courses are so elementary, if you want to go to pharmacy school, why would you waste your time with this? Tech courses are designed for high school dropouts who need to be spoonfed towards certification.

Plan of action for you is to (1) get into a pharmacy.

If you cant do this, then do the following:

Buy any certification book online at Amazon. I dont know which ones are better, but you are smart, you can read the reviews and discern which ones are appropriate. Then when you get the book, study drug names and classes (generics very important, but also learn brand names where possible). Then study amoxicillin-ratio type of math problems. Bingo! You will pass the exam. Dont read every little detail in the book, those two types of questions represent maybe 80% of the exam. Other stuff is either common sense like pharmacy procedures, such as technicians cannot counsel patients about medications. DUH! Who doesnt know that?

Save your money!

LOL .... I love tennis boys' posts

 

[melilsvmm]

i was on this website http://rxinsider.com/pharmacy_technician_training_sales.htm

i want to work as a pharm tech right now for experience? It will be easier for me to get hired if certified. Does anyone know If online training is ok? or is it better to goto something like community college for a pharm tech training? how much did it cost u for training in school? how much does it usually cost?

The book I found helpful was "the pharmacy Technician Series--Certification Exam Review". It is a Pearsons/Prentice Hall book, the author is Mike Johnston

The book is a very fast read and a great refresher.

 

[konkan]

i was on this website http://rxinsider.com/pharmacy_technician_training_sales.htm

i want to work as a pharm tech right now for experience? It will be easier for me to get hired if certified. Does anyone know If online training is ok? or is it better to goto something like community college for a pharm tech training? how much did it cost u for training in school? how much does it usually cost?

Come to Michigan. Mich. doesn't require ANY pharm. tech training at all. You just need to have a high school diploma. Seriously.

 

[KM86]

anyone tried the online training ceritification yet? or does anyone know if its legit?

 

[az_drugdlr]

I agree that you shouldn't need a course. I found an independent pharmacy that hired me, and everyone was really nice in helping me prepare. Most people work the two years (max before you must get certified - at least in AZ), and then go take the test. I worked for two months and took the test and passed. I made index cards of the top 200 brand name drugs and included the generic, the purpose, the side effects, and the available strengths (but mostly just memorized the generics). WebMD has great comprehensive, concise summaries of most drugs - that's what I used for the index cards. Then I borrowed a fellow tech's study books from the 1980's to study the math formulas (which were really quite simple - calculating how many drops per minute for an IV to deliver x-amount of drug in 2 hours, child dosing, etc). All in all, I would say I spend probably 20 hours or so making the notecards and studying, with no monetary cost involved, and I passed.

I feel that going to an independent pharmacy (as opposed to a chain) will give you much more personal support and one-on-one interaction with fellow techs and the pharmacist(s), as well as a sense of compassion and understanding (at least that's what I got). If you convince them that you are professional, mature, and really anxious to get pharmacy experience and become a pharmacist, they'll work with you!

Anyway, good luck!

 

[az_drugdlr]

PS - I just went to that website you said you were looking at, and it says they have handwriting recognition excercises. When I took the test (summer 2005), there was no such thing on it. That's the kind of thing that you pick up on when working in the pharmacy as you get to know each individual doc's prescriptions, not something you study for! And certainly not something you should pay to study for!

Also, you can get a good list of sig codes at http://rxinsider.com/sigs.htm (put those on index cards too). And the list of the top 200 drugs is at http://www.rxlist.com/top200.htm.

 

[BeaverOSU]

i did my pharmacy tech course from PCDI in Georgia...its pretty ok

How is the PCDI Pharmacy Technician Course? Were you satisfied? What are some of the methods they use? Do they mail you textbooks?

I've been looking to get certified and I think an online course would be the easiest for me.

Thanks!

 

[gsinccom]

good info

 

[KM86]

yeaaa i want to get certified also but is it legit to get certified from an online course like that site i posted? anyone know?

 

[the_labrat]

I took the test in July with about 15-20hrs of study time behind me. Buy the book, take the tests in the book, take the actual test.

You WILL save yourself valuable money and time. Esp if you are planning on going for full pharmacy.

 

[KM86]

o wait i mustve been confused..... so u dont have to goto school for pharm tech? all u have to do is take the pharm tech board exam and if u pass it then u become certified? i thought it was one of those for example like cna...u have to be in class and finish the course then u get the diploma? but for pharm tech...no?

 

[TennisBoy78]

o wait i mustve been confused..... so u dont have to goto school for pharm tech? all u have to do is take the pharm tech board exam and if u pass it then u become certified? i thought it was one of those for example like cna...u have to be in class and finish the course then u get the diploma? but for pharm tech...no?

NO NO NO - Don't waste your money. Hope you finally get it now!

 

[the_labrat]

Exactly. There was another post similar to this in which the poster referred to pharmacy tech classes as aimed toward high school dropouts who need to have information spoonfed to them...he/she was halfway right. If you study hard and pay attention to the questions being asked, you will do well!

 

[i ♥ pharmacy]

I agree with everyone else. I actually signed up for a Pharmacy Tech course before I found this board and completely regret it. Basically, I threw away more than $1500 (for the course alone) for something I could have done on my own. Just order a book on Amazon or Half.com, and study from it. I can't remember the name of the book I used for my class, but will look for the actual book and let you all know. The list price was about $55, and I ordered it from half.com (new) for about $30. Do NOT waste your $ on a course. Not worth it all.

 

[FatimaMohamed]

How is the PCDI Pharmacy Technician Course? Were you satisfied? What are some of the methods they use? Do they mail you textbooks?

I've been looking to get certified and I think an online course would be the easiest for me.

Thanks!

I would recomment the PCDI online Pharmacy Tech course to anyone. The services were absolutely great...they posted text books, workbooks, exams...
student services were excellent.. plus its pretty affordable too