Working in hospitals, drug stores and grocery stores, pharmacy technicians help licensed pharmacists keep things around the pharmacy running smoothly. They measure medication, label packaging and dispense prescriptions to customers after accepting payment. If you are interested in a career as a pharmacy technician, you will need a specific set of skills to help you succeed in the field.
Communication and Customer Service Skills
As a pharmacy technician, you will spend a great deal of your time communicating with customers, co-workers and the pharmacist you work for. Active listening skills will be an asset for giving others your full attention and making sure you fully understand any instructions you are given or questions you are asked. Since you will serve as a face for the pharmacy, working directly with customers, you need excellent customer service skills to assist you in satisfying their needs and providing them with a positive experience at your pharmacy.
Organizational Skills
Pharmacists rely on technicians to help them keep the pharmacy in top shape and make sure everything stays in order. Organizational skills will not only help you keep the shelves stocked and properly arranged, they will help you multitask as you juggle a variety of responsibilities throughout your workday. From answering phones to processing insurance claims, you need to stay organized to ensure that you complete your tasks in order and on time.
Math Skills
You don't need to be skilled in trigonometry to be a pharmacy technician, but you do need to have excellent basic math skills. While measuring out medications, it is essential that you can quickly and accurately count out exact milligram measurements and put the right amount of each medication in to ensure the medications comply with the prescriptions that were written. When completing pharmacy inventory, you need math skills to calculate how much of each medication remains and how much needs to be ordered.
Attention to Detail
The smallest mistakes in a pharmacy can lead to big problems. Accidentally giving a patient the wrong dosage of medication could become a life or death situation, and failure to notice a shortage of a medication could cause a patient to be unable to fill a prescription she desperately needs. You need to have excellent attention skills to make sure that nothing around the pharmacy flies under your radar, and that you are aware of what is going on at all times.