Equip yourself with knowledge and the ability to have as successful future as a pharmacy technician with Oklahoma City Community College’s (OCCC) Pharmacy Technician Course September 14 to November 11.
The nine-week course will be 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays and Wednesday at the Professional Development Institute, Room 129, 7124 S. I-35 Service Road. At the end of the course, a certification of completion will be awarded based on attendance and class assignments.
Curriculum for the course will be engaging and thorough and include: instruction in state regulations and insurance restrictions; mathematics relating to job performance; applicable law; nomenclature; basic IV admixture; computerized pharmacy systems; basic skills needed to work in retail pharmacies and hospitals; and classroom exercises and competency reviews.
Since completing the Pharmacy Technician Course, students have consistently and successfully put to use their newly developed skills. For instance, Brenda Hansel has utilized what she learned to advance her career as an administrative assistant with the Fortune 14 company OptumRx.
During the course, Hansel said she enjoyed learning about the brand name, generic name and therapeutic name of top drugs in addition to gaining an in-depth understanding of existing regulations and laws.
“My instructor, Vickie Chandler, was wonderful in guiding us through the nine week class,” Handsel said. “I enjoyed it and was able to pass the PTCE and achieve my pharmacy tech certification. Thank you, OCCC!”
Other students like Farhayah Zahid were most grateful for the preparation they gained to deal with real world problems.
“The pharmacy tech class offered by OCCC exceeded my expectations. I learned an exceptional amount in just eight weeks. The instructor shared many real life problems that we may encounter in the workforce and we discussed how we could prepare and handle them. I am very excited and confident about my new career,” Zahid said.
The majority of pharmacy technicians work in pharmacies and drug stores, while many more work in hospitals and grocery stores. With part-time and full-time job opportunities, pharmacy technicians help licensed pharmacists dispense prescription medication; record information needed to fill a prescription; count tablets and measure amounts of other medication for prescriptions; compound or mix medications; package and label prescriptions; accept payment for prescriptions and process insurance claims; and perform routine pharmacy tasks including answering phone calls from customers.
Vickie Chandler, who has been a pharmacy technician for 19 years with both Familymeds/Walgreens, and Prescription Solutions, will teach the course at OCCC. Chandler has assisted in training consulting pharmacists, prior auth techs, mail service and help desk advocates. In addition to OCCC, she currently teaches the Pharmacy Tech Certification Class at Moore-Norman Vo-tech, and recently started as the new quality training coordinator at the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy.
A prerequisite for the course is a high school diploma or GED. In addition, good math skills are recommended. Cost for the course is $480, which is due at time of registration, and includes two textbooks approved by the American Pharmacists Association.
For more information or to enroll, contact Francine Gissy at (405) 682-7856 or fgissy@occc.edu or visit /pdi/pharmacy.html.
