Critical Program Information

Are you 100% Sure thie field is for you?

  • Do you know any Pharmacy Technicians? Go meet some! Most in the area are former students. It is hard to know that you want to enroll in a program like this or work as a pharmacy technician if you do not know people who have done the program or work in a
    pharmacy right now.
  • Make sure you are committed to this program before enrolling. This is going to be a fun program, but it will be time-consuming and challenging.
  • You will be responsible for at least 12 hours per week of class. At the end of the program, you will be completing an unpaid externship. During this, you will be expected to complete at least 20 hours per week, though we encourage 25-30 hours per week to complete the rotation faster.
  • Please consider your work/childcare situation before enrolling into this program. Once you have committed a schedule to a pharmacy, you must stick with it. If you have children, please ensure you have reliable childcare.
  • The most important piece of advice I can give you is to make sure that you want to do this program. It is a challenging program that will push you to your limits. However, if you are committed to the program, you will be able to motivate yourself through the hard parts and see it through until the end. If you are enrolling into this program for a reason other than your own personal desire to do it, it will be difficult to motivate yourself through the challenging parts ahead.
  • Do you have a job already? If so, we are off to a great start. If not, that is not a problem, but I strongly encourage you to get a job and experience workplace standards and establish work ethic and references and basic workplace expectations. This will benefit you immensely in your externship. Many pharmacists comment that they can tell who has had a job before and who has not. If you can get a job in the customer service industry or in the healthcare field - even better.
  • Do you like talking to people? Are you outgoing and friendly? Great! If not, we will work on it. Please be aware that this is a customer service-oriented field. If you are a timid/ shy person, the customer service aspects of this program and field may be a challenge for you. It involves a lot of talking to other healthcare professionals and patients, as do many of our assignments and labs.
  • There are no exceptions to immunizations. To work in the healthcare field, up-to-date immunizations are required. We immunize ourselves to protect those we take care of.
  • You are subjected to random drug screening if necessary and at your own expense and is paid through CastleBranch, which will be explained in orientation. A p ositive drug screen for any illicit medication or controlled substances which you do not have a prescription for will result in your immediate dismissal from the program.
  • This program requires intense memorization skills. You will memorize 300+ medications. You will memorize their brand name, generic name, controlled substance schedule, and drug class. You will memorize pharmacy law, best practices, skills, etc. This is a daunting task but is accomplished with hard work and dedication. Please consider the amount of time this will take in class during the skills pass-offs, and especially at home to prepare.
  • This field deals with many needles. In retail pharmacy, technicians are expected to immunize patients (give shots). In hospital, compounding, specialty, long-term care pharmacy, etc., technicians may be performing sterile compounding which would be using needles to reconstitute powdered medications to liquid form and transfer medications into IV bags. If you have a fear of needles, this will be a difficult program for you. It is something we are confident you can work on, but you will be expected to handle needles and syringes frequently in this field.
  • This is a profession where you will be on your feet for 8-10 hours per day. Please consider the physical toll this has on your body before you enroll, and the importance of reliable athletic shoes.
  • This is a very fast-paced, high-stress, customer service-oriented profession. You must be able to multi-task and remain calm during these situations, as one tiny mistake can seriously hurt a patient