Pharmacy Technician Certificate Program Overview
The Pharmacy Technician Program is designed to prepare graduates to perform duties of a pharmacy technician. As the pharmacy profession continues to develop, responsibilities and opportunities for pharmacy technicians continue to increase. Enhanced performance requires enhanced didactic and experiential education. After completing an accredited program, graduates are capable of working in a variety of pharmacy settings. The entry level program prepares graduates for entry level positions. Graduates of the advanced level are better equipped to utilize additional knowledge and skills to function at higher levels. Incoming students have two options to enroll in the Pharmacy Technician Program: Entry Level, Advanced Level.
General Guidelines
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Student attendance in classes is compulsory.
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Students are required to stay updated on school/class activities by checking their UIW email, their Learning Management System, bulletin boards and/or display monitors, and postal mail on a daily basis.
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Students are required to follow the dress code of the school as an integral part of their training and professionalism.
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Experiential programs may be provided off-campus. The site may be in an area distant from UIW and San Antonio. Students are responsible for their transportation and possible relocation to their assigned site and for their own housing during this period.
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A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required to graduate from the Pharmacy Technician Program.
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Faculty of the Pharmacy Technician Program reserve the right to revise the curriculum at any time to ensure that students acquire the most current and relevant training possible. If curricular changes become necessary, every effort will be made to apprise students of the changes made and how these changes impact their course of study. In all cases, however, the production of well-prepared graduates will prevail as the dominant concern.
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The Pharmacy Technician Program will graduate only those students it deems ready to accept morally, ethically, and professionally the practice of pharmacy, and consequently reserves the right to withhold the recommendation for graduation of any student who does not conform to those standards of readiness.
Graduation Requirements
The institutional requirements for the Certificate of Pharmacy Technician are listed here. A student should meet these requirements with normal progression through the program.
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Minimum completed credit hours.
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Minimum GPA of 2.0.
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All coursework must be completed within 1.5 calendar years after matriculation unless approved by the Dean. Seek advice from the Financial Aid Office concerning financial aid.
Additionally, the student must resolve all financial obligations with the university and complete exit procedures through the offices of the Dean, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and the Office of Pharmacy Technician Student Affairs.
Transfer Policy
Transfer credits are not accepted. All students must apply to the Pharmacy Technician Program as incoming students in either the entry level program or the advanced level program.
Testing Requirements
The Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSBP) requires passing a national certification exam and registration with the TSBP in order to work as a pharmacy technician. Students may take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) exam once meeting PTCB’s testing criteria.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must provide evidence of these required prerequisites:
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Attends high school, possesses a high school equivalency certificate, high school graduate, or college graduate.
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Demonstrates English language proficiency (including reading, writing, and speaking).
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Demonstrates math proficiency sufficient to fulfill the requirements of pharmacy technician job responsibilities.
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Meets the minimum age requirements that are based on states' requirements for employment of pharmacy technicians.
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Obtained a certificate to demonstrate that the student has obtained training in an ASHP/ACPE accredited program (for those applying directly into the Advanced Level Program only).
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Immunizations.
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Criminal background check.
The admission process is open year-round. All students, including UIW students, must apply for admission to the program. Application is made using the Pharmacy Technician Admissions Application, available online. Applicants must have official transcripts from all college courses taken, both undergraduate and graduate. Two letters of recommendation are needed. An interview (onsite or remote) is required for persons who are under consideration for admission. Students in the entry level program will be admitted to the advanced program provided the student applies to the advanced program and is making acceptable progress in the entry level program.
The Pharmacy Technician Program is committed to enabling students with disabilities to complete the course of study by providing reasonable accommodations consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Accommodations that are determined to be unreasonable or jeopardize patient safety will not be granted. As an example, the use of a trained intermediary is not acceptable because of the inherent use of the observation and selection skills of the intermediary to judge and assess rather than those of the pharmacy technician student.
Pharmacy technician students must possess skills and abilities that allow them to complete the curriculum and practice the profession of pharmacy. The University of the Incarnate Word FPTP has an ethical responsibility for the safety of patients for whom the student will come into contact with as a student and for whom the graduate will serve during his/her career. Patient safety becomes the guiding principle under which the school establishes requirements for physical, cognitive, and emotional capabilities of matriculating students and graduates. The technical standards include skills and abilities across the five domains: intellectual, communication, behavioral and social, sensory, and motor.
1. Intellectual: The student must maintain the ability to retain, comprehend, analyze, synthesize, integrate and apply information for problem-solving and clinical reasoning. This includes abilities to reason, calculate, analyze, measure and synthesize information in a variety of settings, including those which may be urgent with increased transient stress and distractions. Students must demonstrate ability to comprehend three-dimensional relationships, and to understand spatial relationships of structures, including anatomical structures.
2. Communication: The student must be able to communicate effectively, efficiently, appropriately, and in a sensitive manner with patients, caregivers, peers, staff, instructors and members of the healthcare team, both verbally and non-verbally. Verbal communication includes speaking, reading and writing. English is the primary language used for all educational activities, including classroom and clinical settings and students must be able to communicate verbally, in writing, and by reading in English. Non-verbal communication includes perceived behaviors, movements, postures and other physical characteristics which are interpreted as well as performed by the student.
3. Sensory: The student must be able to observe and interpret presented information. This will necessitate the functional use of vision, auditory, and somatic senses.
a. Visual: Candidates and students must have sufficient visual capabilities for the purposes of observation. Observation includes the ability to visualize educational demonstrations and laboratory activities related to basic sciences and clinical activities. This includes but is not limited to the ability to observe a partner and patient at varying distances and perform tasks in setting which may have visual distractions, such as crowds. Observation includes non-verbal communication and is enhanced by the functional use of the sense of smell.
b. Hearing: Students must have sufficient auditory ability to monitor and assess partners and patients for the purposes of acquiring necessary health information and working as a team in educational and health care settings. This includes skills such as auscultation, listening to devices, and responding to verbal calls for assistance in urgent health care situations. Students are expected to be able to perform skills where there is a certain degree of background noise.
c. Tactile: Students must have sufficient tactile sensory and proprioceptive abilities for the purposes of both gathering data in physical examinations and for practicing and performing medical procedures safely. This includes clinical skills such as palpation, percussion, aseptic technique and injection.
4. Behavioral and Social: Students must maintain the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, which include the exercise of good judgment, prompt completion of all educational and clinical responsibilities, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective professional relationships with patients. Students must be able to tolerate mentally and physically taxing workloads and adapt to changing environments, display flexibility and learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest and motivation are all personal qualities that will be assessed during the admissions and educational processes.
5. Motor: Students should have sufficient motor function to coordinate both gross and fine motor movements, maintain equilibrium, and have the functional use of the sense of touch in an educational and pharmacy practice setting. This includes fine, gross and psychomotor (including observation) skills, as well as sufficient postural control and eye-hand coordination to perform clinical skills and tasks. Students should be able to execute motor movements reasonably required to provide general and emergency care to patients. Other activities which require sufficient motor activities include, but are not limited to: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, assessment of blood pressure and pulse, administration and compounding of medications.
All students admitted to the Pharmacy Technician Program should be able to independently demonstrate these abilities at the time of admission and throughout program matriculation. Students should perform a critical self-analysis to ascertain the degree of compliance with the technical requirements. Evidence of noncompliance should be communicated to the Office of Pharmacy Technician Student Affairs immediately.