S
Sardinia
I understand that only some people may have put in their hours as a pharmacy technician, however I find it ridiculous that the PTCB is putting in a requirement that by the year 2020 it is a requirement to go to a "pharmacy-technician school" in order to sit in for their examination.
Many pharmacy technicians start working in a retail environment and study in their off-time in order to take the examination. The "study from a book method" is sufficient for many in order to pass the test and then apply for hospital or long term care facility jobs which usually require PTCB + state licensure.
Forcing many of these students to go through an ASHP pharmacy technician program is counter-intuitive to the current model which is streamlined so that those who are genuinely interested in the field can transition into more clinical work environments. The main issue with the ASHP standard is that there are few ASHP programs in certain states and out of the programs existing certain ones charge a high premium for a degree that does not meet the current market demand.
There are 2 certified ASHP programs currently in New Jersey and the only one that has a listing is a program in Iselin set up by a for-profit institution that charges $10,500 to run the program. Meanwhile, another ASHP program run in Minnesota by a community college runs $2,317.
It's obvious that there is little to no oversight on the actual pricing model of these programs and that this requirement is a power play by both the ASHP-PTCB association with the consequence to the general public as being a barrier to individuals who want to progress as a technician beyond a CVS, Walgreens, or a Rite Aid.
As it currently stands, in NJ/NY the standard rate for hospitals and long-term care hiring new pharmacy technicians is approximately $15-$20 hourly. Retail payout is approximately $8-$13 hourly. By the year 2020, minimum wage rate in several major cities is going to go up to $15 an hour. With the ASHP program requirements there will be no financial incentive for students to waste time and $$$ to attend school just to receive a +$5 hourly payout when CNA, Phlebotomy, EKG, and several other certifications require less $$$, less time commitment, and offer more positives than what being a pharmacy technician offers in its current and future form.
In the 2011 C.R.E.S.T. Summit introducing these changes they had two CPhT credentialed speakers who represented individuals who passed PTCB and took continuing certified credits. However, neither of those individuals attended ASHP schools and one of their speakers, Mrs. Andrade, got her start as a pharmacy clerk in high school. Which is no longer a viable option considering that almost all of the listed ASHP programs require a G.E.D. and in order to receive N.J. State Certification the current policy is that they must be a high school graduate. If the 2020 changes are set up with the framework to turn pharm. tech. into a strong specialization field apart from the rest of medicine, then there needs to be an actual demand and payout structure for people to actually go through an expensive school just to take a national exam that won't really improve their life circumstances.
This move to me is ridiculous and is representative of creating unnecessary red tape in the medical field discouraging people from transitioning into healthcare providers of the future. The pharm tech specialty as it currently stands only serves as a stepping stone and there is not enough demand to meet IV/compound specialists within hospitals to justify over-training students to have a skill set that is not currently in demand to be filled. This is in general a problem with pre-med/pre-pharm programs requiring unnecessarily higher standards preventing the introduction of promising people into the expansive field of healthcare.
Many pharmacy technicians start working in a retail environment and study in their off-time in order to take the examination. The "study from a book method" is sufficient for many in order to pass the test and then apply for hospital or long term care facility jobs which usually require PTCB + state licensure.
Forcing many of these students to go through an ASHP pharmacy technician program is counter-intuitive to the current model which is streamlined so that those who are genuinely interested in the field can transition into more clinical work environments. The main issue with the ASHP standard is that there are few ASHP programs in certain states and out of the programs existing certain ones charge a high premium for a degree that does not meet the current market demand.
There are 2 certified ASHP programs currently in New Jersey and the only one that has a listing is a program in Iselin set up by a for-profit institution that charges $10,500 to run the program. Meanwhile, another ASHP program run in Minnesota by a community college runs $2,317.
It's obvious that there is little to no oversight on the actual pricing model of these programs and that this requirement is a power play by both the ASHP-PTCB association with the consequence to the general public as being a barrier to individuals who want to progress as a technician beyond a CVS, Walgreens, or a Rite Aid.
As it currently stands, in NJ/NY the standard rate for hospitals and long-term care hiring new pharmacy technicians is approximately $15-$20 hourly. Retail payout is approximately $8-$13 hourly. By the year 2020, minimum wage rate in several major cities is going to go up to $15 an hour. With the ASHP program requirements there will be no financial incentive for students to waste time and $$$ to attend school just to receive a +$5 hourly payout when CNA, Phlebotomy, EKG, and several other certifications require less $$$, less time commitment, and offer more positives than what being a pharmacy technician offers in its current and future form.
In the 2011 C.R.E.S.T. Summit introducing these changes they had two CPhT credentialed speakers who represented individuals who passed PTCB and took continuing certified credits. However, neither of those individuals attended ASHP schools and one of their speakers, Mrs. Andrade, got her start as a pharmacy clerk in high school. Which is no longer a viable option considering that almost all of the listed ASHP programs require a G.E.D. and in order to receive N.J. State Certification the current policy is that they must be a high school graduate. If the 2020 changes are set up with the framework to turn pharm. tech. into a strong specialization field apart from the rest of medicine, then there needs to be an actual demand and payout structure for people to actually go through an expensive school just to take a national exam that won't really improve their life circumstances.
This move to me is ridiculous and is representative of creating unnecessary red tape in the medical field discouraging people from transitioning into healthcare providers of the future. The pharm tech specialty as it currently stands only serves as a stepping stone and there is not enough demand to meet IV/compound specialists within hospitals to justify over-training students to have a skill set that is not currently in demand to be filled. This is in general a problem with pre-med/pre-pharm programs requiring unnecessarily higher standards preventing the introduction of promising people into the expansive field of healthcare.
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