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Centennial College’s Pharmacy Technician program requires its applicants to demonstrate strong critical thinking, mathematical and English communication skills and a commitment to self-directed thinking. That’s because the nature of this profession is challenging and Pharmacy Techs hold a lot of responsibility in their hands as they receive written prescriptions or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate; order, label, and count stock of medications, chemicals, and supplies, and enter inventory data into a computer; maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs; fill bottles with prescribed medications and type and affix labels; establish and maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients; supply and monitor robotic machines that dispense medicine into containers; and much more.
Here is how the Pharmacy Technician program at Centennial College prepares students, in just two years, to successfully carry out all of these tasks.
Pharmacy Technician courses at Centennial offer a National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) Competencies curriculum.
Among topics covered are pharmaceutical calculations, professional practice and drug programs, community pharmacy dispensing, introduction to pharmacology, aseptic technique principles, anatomy and physiology, pharmacy management and more.
All of Centennial College’s Pharmacy Technician courses contain a balance of theory and practical application.
All practical application of learned subjects is carried out in modern labs.
Lab learning in the Pharmacy Technician program involves real-life simulation of tasks such as dispensing medications.
During Pharmacy Technician courses that are lecture based, students are encouraged to partake in class discussions.
There are two field placement components in the Pharmacy Technician program.
During the first field placement in semester two, students focus on applying skills in dispensing, trouble-shooting, patient profiles, customer service, cash handling, front-shop layout/merchandising, loss prevention methods and schedule III policies. They’re also introduced to drug ordering systems, third party billing and online adjudication.
The final semester Pharmacy Technician program field placement allows students to apply everything they have learned to their experience.
In total, students spend 389 hours in the field.
The Canadian Council of Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs accredits this Pharmacy Technician program.
Students are prepared to write the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada qualifying exam for pharmacy technicians in pursuit of the Registered Pharmacy Technician (RPhT) designation.
Pharmacy Technician program completion allows grads eligibility for the structured Practical Training (12 weeks of supervised practice) in pursuit of the RPhT designation.
To apply to the Pharmacy Technician program, applicants must present an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older.
They must also have completed English 12C or U credit or skills assessment, or equivalent; Math 11M or U or 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent; 11C, or U or 12C, or U, chemistry, physics or biology, or skills assessment, or equivalent. Jason wrote this article, which he uses as an opportunity to describe the Pharmacy Technician program at Centennial College.
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