Pharmacy Technician

The Pickens Technical College Health Pathway allows you to enter the booming healthcare industry in the state of Colorado and beyond. People will need increasingly complicated and nuanced care as they age, and the Pharmacy Technician is a great way to ensure that the community gets the medicine they need to get and stay healthy.

As you’re working towards your Pharmacy Technician Certificate, you’re already aware of the high demand for most healthcare workers, especially for those who aren’t surgeons, doctors, and physicians. The pharmacy technician position is one of these highly valuable and under-appreciated positions.

Pharmacy technicians are of course key cogs in the medical system in the United States, and they’re being asked to take on more responsibilities as the healthcare system evolves. As it evolves, so must pharmacy technicians.

More Pharmacy Techs Needed

There’s a shortage of skilled pharmacy technicians in today’s healthcare system for a number of reasons. One, outlined by healthcare expert Michael Ganio in an interview for Pharmacy Times at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Midyear conference in 2018, is the demands now being put on pharmacy technicians. Ganio explained that pharmacy techs are being expected to perform more skilled work, such as completing medication histories for patients and tasks like sterile compounding and chemotherapy compounding. The high demand for increasingly skilled pharmacy techs combined with salaries that aren’t rising to compensate for these added responsibilities means that many health centers around the United States will struggle to fill their pharmacy technician positions.

Salary Concerns

Ganio said that due to the added responsibilities of pharmacy technicians these days and the salary for these professionals stagnating industry-wide, there will be a shortage of pharmacy technicians in the years to come. Something has to give. At a certain point, the job market will need to correct itself. Health centers need pharmacy technicians to dole out the appropriate amounts and types of medication to millions of patients put on prescription drugs. With more stress and job duties being added to the average pharmacy tech’s plate, it’s only a matter of time before salaries start to rise for these valuable healthcare workers, just in time for you to enter the job market. Even though salaries are staying put right now, that won’t always be the case. Look for a market correction in terms of pharmacy tech salary in 2019.

An Exciting Field

What this all means for pharmacy techs going forward is the possibility of positive change. The healthcare system as a whole is being strained by increased patient use and decreased recruitment into healthcare roles like nurses, nurse’s assistants, and more. But, students all over the country are realizing the rewards of a career in the medical industry, much like you. You may be at the forefront of a new generation of medical workers, ready to change the healthcare system for the better and lead the positive change the entire industry needs.