[JaTT]

hello im not a Pharmacist nor a Pharmacy Technician, but i want to become Pharmacy Technician. I was wondering is a Pharmacist and Pharmacy Technician basically the same occupation? and are one of them harder to get into?

[lordnine]

pharmacy tech is relatively easy to get into..most local colleges probably offer courses and they only last about a year...to be a pharmacist means about5 or 6 years of college

[JaTT]

ah I see, i live in toronto and iv researched pharamcist and Pharmacy technician and Pharmacy Technician program is available at a few colleges, however for a Pharmacist there are no programs in toronto.. if anyone live in Toronto can they help me out ?

[bugga]

University of Toronto has a degree program for a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. It's a hard program to get in to. Do you have good marks in school?

[DanS]

Anyone can walk off the street and be a pharmacy tech. You could take pharmacy tech classes somewhere beforehand, but it is not required. Some of the best techs never went to school for it.

[katbird_27]

I am a pharmacy technician in the seattle area, and the requirementvary by location. here in washington state you need to go to school. we cannot have tech come in off the street and I'm glad of it!

Hockey is life!
Pharmacy is a close second!

[cdaus]

Katbird, what kind of training did you have and what exactly does a pharmacy tech do?

[doodleslo]

I am a Nationally Certified Pharmacy Technician. There are many different settings in which a technician can work.ie. retail, hospital, research, etc. But a basic description of the function of a technician is to assist the pharmacist in the non-judgemental aspects of the pharmacy. That would be inventory control, answering phones, maintaining patient profiles, counting out the drug and applying the label, etc. The pharmacist should always check the work of a technician and only the pharmacist should counsel a patient about drug use. It is an awesome career![:I]

slo