Top Qualities and Skills For a Pharmacy Technician

When you're pursuing a career in the field of allied healthcare, it can be overwhelming to know which roles will best suit your strengths and personality. While technical skills are gained through education and hands-on experience, other necessary qualities may be ones you already possess. For those interested in becoming a pharmacy technician, we've outlined the general duties, top soft skills, and traits you'll need to possess to thrive as a pharmacy technician, including those that can be beneficial to include on your resume.

Pharmacy Technician Skills by Type | Technical Skills

Most of the skills needed for a pharmacy technician will be technical skills learned through either an on-campus pharmacy technician program or an online pharmacy technician program. These will include performing the basic duties of a pharmacy technician, ranging from medication preparation to billing procedures and processing insurance. Additional technical knowledge and clinical skills for a pharmacy technician include but aren't limited to the following.

• Understanding human body systems and the effects of medication
• Sterile and non-sterile compounding
• Hygiene and safety practices
• Understanding guidelines and standards for compounding and equipment
• Utilizing pharmacy software for billing and insurance
• Managing medication inventories
• Understanding pharmacy laws and ethical practices

Pharmacy Technician Skills by Type | Soft Skills

What makes a good pharmacy technician? In addition to technical skills, a pharmacy technician will need to rely heavily on interpersonal skills and communication in this patient-facing role. In terms of skills for a pharmacy technician resume, these soft skills and abilities may help you stand out as a candidate and can contribute to your sense of personal fulfillment in the career.

Compassionate and an excellent listener, a pharmacy technician will need to be able to serve as a resource for patients and help provide resolution to any conflicts that may occur. They'll need to be able to communicate with both doctors and patients, know when a patient may need to speak with the pharmacist for more help, and maintain professionalism throughout. Other critical soft skills for a pharmacy technician include but aren't limited to the following.

• Detail-oriented. A pharmacy technician is responsible for filling prescriptions that someone's life could depend on, so the correct dispensing of medications is highly important..

• Organized and efficient. A pharmacy technician must balance many responsibilities and prioritize duties to complete work delegated by pharmacists while still providing service to customers and patients.

• Ability to multitask. Pharmacy technicians must be able to juggle many different responsibilities and roles. On a given day, a pharmacy technician might fill medication prescriptions, make and accept refill requests, interact with customers and process payments and insurance claims.

• Dependable judgment. A pharmacy technician must be able to determine if the patient should speak to a pharmacist, determine what patient or physician information to collect to fill prescriptions and know when to alert pharmacists of new inventory/supplies needed after assessing the amount available.

The Demand for Pharmacy Technician Skills

With an expected employment growth rate of 6% through 2032, pharmacy technicians are in demand in locations such as hospitals and nursing homes, in addition to retail pharmacies. These pharmacy technicians may need to become adept at location-specific tasks and duties, and may have roles that require different levels of administrative and clinical skills. No matter which environment they land in, a pharmacy technician will still need to have the soft skills outlined above to fulfill the needs of the role.

Start Your Pharmacy Technician Career Today at CHCP

At the College of Health Care Professions, our Pharmacy Technician Certificate Program is designed to help prepare you for a future role through hands-on experience and technical training, as well as help prepare you to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) to obtain your official certification. Throughout your education, you'll also have the opportunity to nurture pharmacy technician characteristics and soft skills that are invaluable to those in the field. If you're ready to start on the path towards becoming a pharmacy technician, we'd love to help. Get in touch with us today to speak with an advisor and learn more about our courses.