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Pharmacy Technician Program provides students experience
SAT. | 04-03-21 | NEWS
The Pharmacy Technician Program is an opportunity for students to gain certification within a single semester in high school. This program is offered to any student through Pitt County Schools that has passed through the Health Sciences Academy tract. Students will work through Pass Assured for 90 hours of the learning part and 15 hours assisting a pharmacist. The program is rigorous in math and sciences and is taught mainly online even prior to the pandemic.
“In order for a school to facilitate and monitor the course they have to have passed the certification course,” career development coordinator and special populations coordinator Fran Green said.
The Pharmacy Technician Program is taught by the online program “Pass Assured." It is meant for students to learn at their own pace and is taught for one semester even though the usual course period is 18 months. This program is only accessible to seniors that have gone through the Health Sciences Academy (HSA) tract which includes BioMed, Heath Sciences 1 & 2. Students who are participating in the course will begin in the spring semester of their senior year. Currently there are 2 Rose students participating in this course.
Graphic by Tierney Reardon
“I found out that I got accepted in April of 2020 through an email soon after I applied,” senior Katie Brimhall said. “I remember it being an essay that was very quick and simple to fill out.”
The application process for this program requires students to have taken upper level Health Sciences Academy classes and will be evaluated using the objective criteria. This Program values students with maturity, good judgement, responsibility, integrity.
Since the Pharmacy Technician Program is given at the students pace, students are able to complete all work when time is available.
“I have been compiling all of my work into one day,” Brimhall said. “I probably should work on it everyday but I usually do all of the pharmacy technician work on Saturdays where I will watch all of the videos and take all quizzes that are assigned.”
This program is through Pass Assured and students are given videos to watch of pharmacists demonstrating techniques and powerpoints. Then the student will take a series of tests about the specific video that they just watched and interacted with.
“It gives the student a certification to work as a pharmacy technician and they can get their certification right after they graduate,” Green said. “People that are going into science fields or they want to go to pharmacy school, it will give them a jump start by getting the certification.”
This program can help students understand the fundamentals of being a pharmacy technician and teach them what the experience will be if they choose this specific specialty.
This program can give student experience that other students will not have when entering a field that this knowledge would be used. When students work aside a pharmacist, they will learn how to distribute medications and how those certain medications can affect the human body.
“These programs will give students the opportunity to ask themselves if they want to be a pharmacist and they realize what is involved and work with the pharmacist,” Green said. “It may tell people that pharmacy is not for me or it may tell them that yes, this is what I want to do.”
Many support the program because they feel it is a great way for students to experience what it is like to be a pharmacist and decide how they fit into this career. It will give them some exposure to the pharmacy line of work and decide if they want to pursue that specific profession.
