Pharmacy tech training programs are geared to provide students with condensed, real-life skills they can apply directly to a professional pharmacy after graduation. They are intended to prepare students for employment as pharmacy technicians in hospitals, retail pharmacies, medical clinics and other medical and retail settings.

Pharmacy technician degree programs usually consist of classroom work in addition to hands-on labs, where students apply the concepts they learn in a mock-medical setting.

Some of the concepts covered in a basic pharmacy technician degree program are:

• Pharmacy administration
• Pharmaceutical calculations and dosage
• Anatomy and physiology
• Digestive, respiratory and reproductive systems
• Nutrition
• Medical terminology
• Pharmacology
• Health care systems
• Medical Legal and Ethical Issues
• Pharmacy/Insurance Billing Software
• Professional Communication

Online Pharmacy Technician Training

Online pharmacy tech programs typically offer the same content as traditional classroom courses, but offer it in the form of lesson segments. Each lesson is usually followed by an assignment, quiz or project. Communication with professors and other students is done online as well, and assignments are turned in via email or other electronic means.

Online pharmacy technician degrees are just as valuable as traditional classroom ones, and are becoming more accepted by employers. This makes online degrees a sound investment for students who have the self-discipline and motivation to study on their own time, though the self-driven nature of online programs tends to make them slightly more difficult.