General Requirements

• The main distinction of the white lab coat-wearing professionals behind the pharmacy counter is their education. All pharmacists are required by every state to have attended a pharmacy school to earn a Pharm.D. degree and must also take and pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam. Some states also require prospective pharmacists to take the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam. By comparison, no specific education, licensing or exam is required to work as a pharmacy technician, also called a pharmacy technologist. Persons who fill these positions may have solely a high school diploma or GED or have undertaken voluntary post-secondary education in the pharmacy training field.
  
  

Prescription for Success

• The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education accredits only schools instructing students seeking the Pharm.D. degree; there is no accreditation council for pharmacy technician programs. Schools offering the doctorate of pharmacy degree are scattered throughout the country, including the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas School of Pharmacy and University of Nevada College of Pharmacy.
  
  

Pharmacist Plan

• Students in Pharm.D. programs, such as the one at D'Youville College in New York, follow a similar path of learning, which includes topics such as principles of drug action, biochemical principles, pathophysiology, the profession of pharmacy and health care systems, pharmacotherapeutics, pharmacy management, medical microbiology and immunology, cardiopulmonary disorders, self-care, pharmaceutical calculations, substance abuse and toxicology and population-based healthcare. Prospective pharmacists also perform rotations and internships, similar to physicians, in areas such as ambulatory care and hospital pharmacies.
  
  

Pharmacy Technicians

• Although a pharmacy technician education is not required for the job, students who pursue a pharmacy technician certificate, degree or diploma receive a well-rounded slate of topics. At California State University East Bay, students in the pharmacy technician program take courses in pharmacy law and ethics, orientation to pharmacy, medical and pharmaceutical technology, pharmaceutical calculations, pharmacology, immunobiologic agents, gastrointestinals, insurance and inventory procedures, drug distribution and computer entry. There are no internships or rotations in a pharmacy technician education program.