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Pharmacy Technician Continuing Education- What Is The Need Of It?

Once you have successfully passed your pharmacy technician examination, your certification is valid for two years. Every two years you would have to go with pharmacy technician continuing education and complete 20 hours of continuing education credits to maintain the validity of the earned certification.

The role of a pharmacy technician includes knowing about the new medicines, new formulas, new terminologies and latest laboratory terms. To know about all these, one needs to get updated about all the developments in the industry. This is done through continuing education. But, don't bother yourself thinking that you would have to put the same amount of efforts all over again.

The first thing that you should keep in mind is that the 20 hour credit study which is to be undertaken every two years is not as rigorous as the certification preparation. For certification exams you had rigorously studied math, science and other topics related to your profession. A 20 hour credit study is a much simpler task in comparison to this.

Apart from helping you maintain your certification, continuing education also provides you with better career prospects. If you think about switching to a better job opportunity then your continuing education on pharmacy would leave a good impression when you go for an interview. One of the other best things about continuing education is that if you are employed under a certified pharmacist or act as an assistant to him then 10 hours of credit of such education automatically get cleared.

The additional 10 hours can be completed taking some coursework of pharmaceutical related subjects which include attending a portion of lecture, training, and some coursework to study at home. Remember, that it is very important for you to consider one hour of such study in the subject of pharmacy laws.

Continuing education is required even if you have been working as a locum pharmacy technician for the last two years. With the changing times it is quite necessary for technicians to undergo such continuing education to keep themselves in tune with the present day needs. New insurance policies are formed and implemented, new laws are enacted and new medications are prepared. In such a scenario you cannot afford to remain ignorant of the latest developments.

The norms for continuing education of pharmacy technicians vary from state to state. If Chicago accepts 10 hour of such credit it may not be the same for Houston where law may be more rigorous or flexible. Therefore, it is your duty to get complete information on such issues in your state. Today, pharmacy technician continuing education also refers to higher training given to the technicians on various drugs for cough, diabetes, HIV and other ailments. This step comes under the program where pharmacy technicians are given enough knowledge to tackle emergency situations.