By Keenan A. Mount
Lewis and Clark Community College is now offering a program that will prepare students to work at a pharmacy as a technician in less than a year.
A pharmacy technician, a role that is beginning to require higher education credentials, works in unison with a pharmacist, preparing prescriptions as well as communicating with and keeping records for patients all in an ethical and legal manner.
The courses in the program aim to aid in familiarizing students with relevant terminology, making students more effective communicators, teaching students bookkeeping practices, exposing students to the legal and ethical codes followed in pharmaceuticals, and showing students how to implement techniques to remain sterile and aseptic.
Program coordinator, Kaycilee Sackmann, recommends this program to “anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in pharmacy and has a desire to gain valuable knowledge about what it means to be a pharmacy technician and how to apply that knowledge in the real-world setting.”
Sackmann always knew she wanted to be in the medical field. She went into the pharmacy world, as she saw it, as “the best fit for me and the interests I have.” Sackmann also finds it as “a valuable asset to have knowledge about medications you are taking; not only for the purpose of making you more well-rounded in understanding your own care, but also your loved ones around you.”
Sackmann assures that pharmacy technician program students will “gain valuable knowledge in only one semester” and that the course is “a great first step in getting you into a very rewarding career.”
