Occupation Summary

Pharmacy Technicians

O*NET 29-2052.00

Description:

Prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. May measure, mix, count out, label, and record amounts and dosages of medications according to prescription orders.

Annual Wages:
$40,624.00
Employment Rate:
Employment is expected to increase by 23.83%.
Education Level:
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production). According to O*Net, the majority of people employed in this occupation have this level of education.
Endorsement:
Public Service, Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM)

  1. Receive written prescription or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate.
  2. Maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs.
  3. Answer telephones, responding to questions or requests.
  4. Assist customers by answering simple questions, locating items, or referring them to the pharmacist for medication information.
  5. Price and file prescriptions that have been filled.
  6. Clean and help maintain equipment or work areas and sterilize glassware, according to prescribed methods.
  7. Establish or maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients.
  8. Order, label, and count stock of medications, chemicals, or supplies and enter inventory data into computer.
  9. Transfer medication from vials to the appropriate number of sterile, disposable syringes, using aseptic techniques.
  10. Supply and monitor robotic machines that dispense medicine into containers and label the containers.
  11. Prepare and process medical insurance claim forms and records.
  12. Mix pharmaceutical preparations, according to written prescriptions.
  13. Operate cash registers to accept payment from customers.
  14. Compute charges for medication or equipment dispensed to hospital patients and enter data in computer.
  15. Deliver medications or pharmaceutical supplies to patients, nursing stations, or surgery.
  16. Price stock and mark items for sale.
  17. Maintain and merchandise home healthcare products or services.
  18. Prepack bulk medicines, fill bottles with prescribed medications, and type and affix labels.
  19. Receive and store incoming supplies, verify quantities against invoices, check for outdated medications in current inventory, and inform supervisors of stock needs and shortages.
  20. Restock intravenous (IV) supplies and add measured drugs or nutrients to IV solutions under sterile conditions to prepare IV packs for various uses, such as chemotherapy medication.
  21. Enter prescription information into computer databases.


National Industry Employment Patterns


Industry % of Pharmacy Technicians employed Annual Growth Rate
Health and personal care stores 49.9 0.25
General medical and surgical hospitals 16 0.58
Electronic shopping and mail-order houses 2.1 2.60


Labor Market Information


2022 Statewide average hourly wage $19.53
2022 National average hourly wage $19.35
2020 National employment 419,300
2020 Texas employment 35,686
Texas projected employment by 2030 44,189
Texas projected annual employment and Turnover openings through 2030 3,656




TEXAS COUNTY MAP BY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AREA
* Due to confidentiality rules, not all regions may have the data displayed. The sum of all the regions may not be equal to the state total.


Top 10 Relevant Knowledge Areas Relevant Importance Levels
Customer and Personal Service
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
91.80%
Medicine and Dentistry
Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
77.00%
Mathematics
Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
76.40%
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
75.00%
Computers and Electronics
Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
74.20%
Law and Government
Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
69.80%
Administrative
Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
66.20%
Production and Processing
Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
64.80%
Chemistry
Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
58.80%
Public Safety and Security
Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
58.40%


Top 10 Relevant Skill Areas Relevant Importance Levels
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
80.00%
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
75.00%
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
75.00%
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
65.00%
Active Learning
Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
62.40%
Service Orientation
Actively looking for ways to help people.
62.40%
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
62.40%
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
62.40%
Social Perceptiveness
Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
62.40%
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
62.40%


Top 10 Relevant Abilities Relevant Importance Levels
Oral Comprehension
The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
80.00%
Written Comprehension
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
80.00%
Oral Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
80.00%
Near Vision
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
80.00%
Speech Recognition
The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
77.60%
Problem Sensitivity
The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
75.00%
Information Ordering
The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
75.00%
Category Flexibility
The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
72.40%
Speech Clarity
The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
67.60%
Deductive Reasoning
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
62.40%


  • Getting Information
    -- Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Working with Computers
    -- Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
  • Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
    -- Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
  • Processing Information
    -- Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
  • Documenting/Recording Information
    -- Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Other Activities


  • Relationships
    - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
  • Support
    - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.



Tools

Bar code reader equipment: Data input scanners;

Benchtop centrifuges: Centrifuges;

Bi distillation units: Water distillation equipment;

Cash registers: Cash registers;

Compact disc CD or labeling printers: Label printers;

Desktop computers: Desktop computers;

Digital pen: Electronic signature capture equipment;

Dry heat or hot air sterilizers: Sterilizing equipment;

Filling or sealing auger dose machines: Automatic unit dose strip packaging machines; Tube filling and crimping machines;

Forced air or mechanical convection general purpose incubators: Incubators;

Fume hoods or cupboards: Horizontal and vertical flow hoods;

Gas burners: Bunsen burners;

Hydrometers: Specific gravity testing equipment;

Intravenous infusion pumps for general use: Intravenous IV infusion pumps;

Intravenous tubing with catheter administration kits: Intravenous IV supplies;

Laboratory balances: Single-beam balances; Double-beam balances; Equal-arm balances; Unequal-arm balances; Torsion balances;

Laboratory blenders or emulsifiers: Total parenteral nutrition TPN compounders; Blending/agitating machines;

Laboratory graduated cylinders: Graduated cylinders;

Laboratory mills: Benchtop colloid mills; Colloid mills; Grinding and shearing colloid mills;

Laboratory vacuum pumps: Laboratory vacuum pumps;

Laboratory washing machines: Flask washers;

Laminar flow cabinets or stations: Laminar flow hoods;

Laser printers: Computer laser printers;

Medical syringes without needle: Syringes;

Medication or pill dispensers: Robotic dispensing systems;

Microscope slides: Agar slides;

Multipurpose or general test tubes: Test tubes;

Notebook computers: Notebook computers;

Personal computers: Personal computers;

Petri plates or dishes: Petri dishes;

Pharmaceutical filters or ultra filters: Filtering devices;

Point of sale POS terminal: Point of sale POS computer terminals;

Steam autoclaves or sterilizers: Autoclaves;

Sterile or aseptic processing or filling machines: Semiautomatic sterile solution transferring devices; Automatic bottle filling machines; Computer-based dispensing equipment;

Tablet counters: Tablet counting machines;

Vacuum blood collection tubes or containers: Evacuated blood collection containers;


Technology

Accounting software: Billing and reimbursement software;

Data base user interface and query software: Database software; Drug compatibility software;

Electronic mail software: Microsoft Outlook;

Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Pharmacy management software;

Inventory management software: Pyxis MedStation software; Inventory management software;

Label making software: Label-making software;

Medical software: MEDITECH software; Medical condition coding software; Compounder software; Prescription processing software; Patient record maintenance software; Pharmaceutical software;

Office suite software: Microsoft Office software;

Point of sale POS software: Point of sale POS software;

Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint;

Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel;

Word processing software: Microsoft Word;


Related O*NET occupational titles for Pharmacy Technicians include:
  • 29-2061.00 Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
  • 29-2012.00 Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians
  • 31-9092.00 Medical Assistants
  • 31-9093.00 Medical Equipment Preparers
  • 31-1131.00 Nursing Assistants
  • 29-2081.00 Opticians, Dispensing
  • 31-9095.00 Pharmacy Aides
  • 31-9097.00 Phlebotomists
  • 29-2055.00 Surgical Technologists
  • 29-2056.00 Veterinary Technologists and Technicians


Sources of Additional Information
  • For more information about accredited pharmacy technician programs, visit: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
  • For more information about state licensure laws, contact individual state Boards of Pharmacy, or visit: National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
  • For more information about certification, visit: Pharmacy Technician Certification Board
  • National Healthcareer Association
  • Pharmacy Technicians

  • Contact Texas Workforce Commission
    Labor Market and Career Information  |  101 E. 15th Street, Annex Room 0252  |  Austin, Texas 78778
    Official Website  |  1-800-822-PLAN (7526)  |  512.936.3200

    ** The information in this report may be derived from many sources like O*NET, BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), OOH (Occupational Outlook Handbook), and Career One Stop.