A pharmacy technician is a trained person in handling pharmacy job. They will require all the skills and knowledge to handle the work at the hospitals, clinics and the pharmacy counter. However, it is not required of them to have educational qualifications to become a pharmacist as they work with the pharmacist and deal with customers, handle various prescriptions, medications and the patient records. He also fills the prescriptions weighs, counts and measure medications as and when required. These pharmacy technicians also carry out all sorts of jobs like carrying boxes, ladders and meeting people.
The Pharmacists are usually required to maintain odd-hours because many pharmacies are open twenty-four hours. Many of them even stay for the night shifts and on weekends. Therefore, it is apparent that their job is full of stress and they are always busy too.
Pharmacy technician salary:
The pharmacist salary depends on the qualification and the experience. Those who do not have any formal qualifications and have had only experience by working the trade on-the-job under a pharmacist will receive lower salaries. But those who have received proper certificate and have obtained a degree will get a good decent salary. Factually speaking the experience too plays a very important part in receiving higher salary. The salary range for the new or trainee level technicians is around $ 30, 000 annually for the initial years. After having learnt the trade and with some good experience one can expect a salary hike of around $ 35, 000 annually. Then onwards one can expect a steady increase and a person with 1- year experience can expect something around $40,000 annually. To be precise, the American medical association has recorded an average annually salary of a pharmacist to be around $19,000.
Many times a pharmacy technician does get an hourly wage. Therefore, you can also expect a pharmacy technician wages to be between $10 and $17 hourly. For those persons who are new in this field should expect an hourly wages of $9 and $11. However, those with good experience of many years and are good at their job can get $17 on an hourly basis.
Factors Determining the Salary :
There are various factors that determine the salary of the pharmacy technician. First, the size and the type of the pharmacy play a vital role in determining the salary. Here again pharmacies that work in big hospitals and clinics can afford to give out better pay scales as compared to the local pharmacies. Usually the small or single-person pharmacies do not have large business and so are unable to pay high scales to the pharmacy technicians. On the other hand, those who are certified can expect more, although do not expect more than the above-mentioned salary. An increase in the pharmacy technician pay will take place annually and depend on the pharmacist discretion.
The fact is that pharmacy technician jobs is limited and does not have much scope in terms of career advancement options unless of course the person has good qualifications and has studied higher programs and achieved a degree course in the pharmacy technician course. However, there is a good scope and a great future if he is good at his job. One can also expect a promotion to the position of a supervisor if the pharmacist is with a multi-technician pharmacy and has had seven years experience. The pharmacy technician pay for a supervisor is around $40,000 to $ 50, 000, which again depends on the skills and experience.
In fact, the salary levels are the highest in bigger cities or urban areas, where the standard of living is high and there is always the need for medications for each reason. However, one should be aware that the living expenses too are high and therefore one should compare one’s salary and the city expenses while considering employment in the larger cities.
The pharmacy technician wages also depend on the location, the type of pharmacy and the important factor is if there are any bigger hospitals or clinics near the pharmacy, then there apparently is a good job with good salary. According to the statistics of the Bureau of Labor statistics, the hourly wages of the pharmacist starting salary ranges from $9.27 to $18.98 approximately in the year 2008. In addition to the training and the certification factors that determine the salary, you will find many other factors like doing the job of an all rounder. You can get noticed and even appreciated for your job if you attend well to the customers, handle the odd jobs, which are not yours and run the pharmacy well and gain more profit in the absence of the pharmacist. All these factors contribute a lot to increase ones salary.
General information about Pharmacy Technician Salary:
For the pharmacy technician pay, the organization that the pharmacy technician chooses to work with does have a significant impact as it determines the salary. There are non-profit organizations, foundations and trusts, hospitals that offer higher salaries, whereas the colleges, teams and universities can be on the lower-end range of salary.
After looking at all the prospects of the pharmacy technician pay, one thing is significant and that is the certification. Certification is also being picked out by many students and is aware of its importance regarding the future. When one is equipped with one or more certification, one can be in a better position to know the uses and side effects of medications and many more things. One can also know the laws that are pertained to the medications. However, many states do not require certification, yet many employers demand one. Therefore it is better to be ready, should maximize his salary all through the year, and is advised to go for the degree course if he wants to excel in this career and get high-end salary.
Pharmacy technician’s Brighter future :
In this present scenario where the demand is rising, it is quite apparent that the salary levels will also make a steady rise in the coming decades. However, one has to have advanced knowledge and all the necessary qualities needed for a successful pharmacy technician. Another option that is now being used is the internet and offsite pharmacies, which are operated from the remote locations. Companies will pay incentives and increase the salary of a pharmacist to distribute their products to the remotest places and regions.
Consequently, with proper awareness and knowledge, one does have a great future as a pharmacy technician and can also think about it as a great career compared to the other fields.