Featured Article
Advancing the profession
TechLectures is having a holiday contest. They ask a single question. How do we professionalize our vocation? Follow the link for more details. While I will not be entering the contest (as to avoid any notion of a conflict of interest, with a link being placed on my site.)... [Read more...]
Featured 2
Pharmacy Technician Day 2009
October 27th 2009 is National Pharmacy Technician Day. Celebrated in October, part of American Pharmacist’s month, this day is made to take a look at what Pharmacy Technicians do in the workplace. The vital role they play in the safe and efficient delivery of medications... [Read more...]
Featured 3
Why I became a Pharmacy Technician and a story of my life.
Departing from the normal news items posted here, I am writing a personal Blog entry. A short story on why I am here today. A second read, I think is seems a bit egotistical and narcissistic. Though I don’t really want to come across that way. I’m just reflecting.... [Read more...]
Featured 4
NPTA Offers Online Training Program To Become A Pharmacy Tech
(Press Release, NPTA) The National Pharmacy Technician Association announced today the launch of the Official NPTA Pharmacy Technician Certificate Program™, a comprehensive online training program. The new program is designed to meet the growing demand for qualified, educated... [Read more...]
Featured 5
NABP Moves to Next Phase of Technician Recognition and Regulation
(PTCB Press Release) The PTCB is proud to announce a new recommendation issued by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Task Force on Standardized Pharmacy Technician Education and Training which encourages state boards of pharmacy to require certification by the PTCB.... [Read more...]
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Prevacid given OTC approval
Earlier this month, Novartis announced that Prevacid has been approved by the FDA as the first over-the-counter PPI for the treatment of frequent heartburn since 2003 (Prilosec OTC) and the first PPI ever to be granted OTC status without any alterations to it’s original... [Read more...]
Techs
Advancing the profession
TechLectures is having a holiday contest. They ask a single question. How do we professionalize our vocation? Follow the link for more details. While I will not be entering the contest (as to avoid any notion of a conflict of interest, with a link being placed on my site.) I will give you my short essay.
First of all, Show your Pharmacist that we are essential in the practice. Good Pharmacists who advocate for us are key. There is no doubt we would loose the battle without them.
Moving on, A National Exam and Certification/CE should be required to work in this role in all 50 states. That exam only being taken at the completion of an accredited education program. And abolish those shady diploma mills and programs that charge inflated prices and make promises of unrealistic salaries and job growth.
The Pharmacy Technician has the potential to grow into a tried and true Paraprofession. We lack the recognition as a trained and educated staff member. This will never happen without legislation on state and national levels that regulate their education a training.
Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians have both State and National bodies that oversee their education, training, and licensee. And while I know little about that profession, it seems that these boards have struck an nice balance to maintain the minimum National standards of the NHTSA and the states still have individual freedom to regulate farther how they see fit. The Boards of Pharmacy, resisting all lobbies from large corporations, should enact a similar method with stronger minimums. The training programs designed by the large chain pharmacies do nothing more than train their employees just enough to pass muster and are simplistic enough that a tech who relies solely on their training could never advance any farther on that alone. These should not be recognized by the boards as an adequate training model. An organization such as the PTCB needs to be in charge of a uniform testing model, and be enacted in all states.
Speaking of salaries, as much as it pains me to say this, we need to stop using how much we should make as a talking point. Nobody in this profession is in it because of the money, and we will never become rich doing it. That’s just reality. The only thing we should be pushing for at this point is a living wage. too many of us hover around or below the poverty line. While it’s unrealistic to imagine a world where every tech who puts on a lab coat will make more than half of what the Pharmacist makes, for the work that we do, we deserve the compensation that will allow us to live. Minimum wage is not a living wage. Above that we need to move on to our other focus, and not appear greedy to those we are trying to convince.
Activism is the way to obtain it, and apathy will only hurt us. If you are satisfied punching in and punching out and nothing more, we will never prevail. Join grassroots organizations. Write your congressmen. Attend board meetings and learn how the system works. And GET INVOLVED.
Drugs
Stubborn asthma may signal poor use of meds
(Reuters) People with difficult-to-control asthma are often not taking their anti-asthma medication as prescribed by their doctor, new study findings indicate.
Even when prescribed high doses of steroids, about 5 percent of adults with asthma remain difficult to control, with persistent symptoms and frequent flare-ups, Dr. Liam G. Heaney at Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and colleagues have found. [Read more...]
Pharmacy
Big pharmaceutical firms agree to generic drugs for Rwanda
AFP – Three pharmaceutical firms said Monday they support continued efforts by a Canadian generic drug maker to distribute cheaper versions of their patented HIV/AIDS medicines in Rwanda.
GlaxoSmithKline and the Canadian subsidiaries of Shire and Boehringer Ingelheim had two years ago authorized Canadian generic drug maker Apotex to export to Rwanda a “fixed dose triple combination antiretroviral medicine” containing drugs over which each held patent rights in Canada. [Read more...]
Continuing Education
Free CE: The Continued Importance of Controlled Substance Management by Health Care Professionals
Free CE at PowerPak.com titled “The Continued Importance of Controlled Substance Management by Health Care Professionals.”
Read issues associated with maintaining proper vigilance regarding pain medications, with emphasis on [Read more...]
