Qualifications Certificate in Pharmacy (Technician)

The course A worldwide, shortage of pharmacy technicians means technicians from the Certificate in Pharmacy (Technician) course have excellent employment opportunities in community and hospital pharmacies.

It also opens up opportunities to apply for degrees in fields such as pharmacy, applied chemistry or microbiology.

The 32-week unit standards based course is intensive, including work placement for four days a fortnight.

Students spend the first five weeks at AUT before entering the practicum.

Programme content includes health and wellness, dispensing prescriptions, customer services, managing health problems, how pharmaceuticals work, preparing products and legal and ethical issues.

Entry requirements are high for a certificate-level course. Applicants need 48 credits at NCEA level three, with a minimum of 12 in Level 2 English.

Non-native speakers who are not studying NCEA need an IELTS of 6.5 with no less than 7 in listening and 6.5 in speaking.

There is also a typing assessment and written test. This emphasis on English is because communication is a large component of pharmacy technician work.

Finally there is a compulsory interview involving group tasks where applicants demonstrate how they deal with other people.

Science is not a prerequisite but biology is advantageous because study covers human anatomy and physiology.

The course attracts a wide range of people from school leavers to adults in their early fifties.

Up to 45 students are accepted each intake, including five international students. It is a competitive course with 100 to 150 applicants applying each year.

The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand offers the same certificate on a part-time basis to trainees already working in pharmacies.

What graduates think

Dillon Rungan
Pharmacy technician
Aged 20
Dawson Rd Pharmacy, East Tamaki

Since graduating at the end of last year I've worked at Dawson Rd Pharmacy as a pharmacy technician. It is good fun. It is a very busy pharmacy. I wanted a job where I was busy and active. I enjoy the practical dispensing and compounding side of pharmacy work.

I was doing pharmacology at the University of Auckland but realised I needed to be in communication with people; laboratory work was too solitary.

As a technician I do a lot of the compounding of creams, ointments, cough syrups, ear, eye and nose drops. We make a lot from scratch using raw ingredients such as water, sulphur powder and hydrocortisone powders.

I had little knowledge about over-the-counter medication before I did the course. The course really broadened my knowledge of things like paracetamol, vitamins and first aid.

It also developed my dispensing skills and helped me get to grips with Toniq, the computer dispensary program used to put through prescriptions, order medicines, connect with wholesalers and check stock.

I particularly enjoyed my work placement which I started in March and continued two days a week for the rest of the course. I really enjoyed this because it gave me the chance to learn the everyday stuff. I found the course excellent but full-on.

What employers think

Tracey Edmunds
Retail manager, Dawson Rd Pharmacy

I employed Dillon because he was immediately easy to talk to which meant he would be good with customers. He doesn't get easily rattled which is essential in this pharmacy. Many pharmacies do 40 or 50 scripts in a day; we can do 500 to 600.

Last week we went through 124 scripts in one hour so we need someone who stays calm under pressure. Dillon would have about 80 per cent of the responsibility of running the dispensary because the pharmacist is so busy with the scripts, so he is doing jobs such as ordering.

When you're training someone from scratch, you have to check virtually everything they do. Of course things need to be checked by the pharmacist, but in this place we can't have someone who needs to have every single thing they do double-checked.

Dillon is extremely accurate which is essential. We have employed three graduates from the course now and they have all had a high level of accuracy, but Dillon is particularly good.

Auckland University of Technology
Ph (09) 917 9735 or 0800 367 288
Starting rate is $12-$16 an hour, depending on location and pharmacy size.
Course costs about $3800 for 2005.
For more information see link below.