Pharmacy Practice 1010 is a step in the door to the world as a Pharmacy Technician. The course teaches Pharmacy Technician students the basic knowledge of medications and general information needed to know while working in a pharmacy. Students learn the information about the uses, mechanisms of action, side effects and special cautions that all technicians need to be aware of while working with drugs and dispensing them to their patients in the pharmacy.
At the beginning of the semester our instructor had us write down our background and goals for the semester. The assignment was to clarify what our own expectations for the course were so we could work towards our own personal goals throughout the semester.
We were asked to write about the following topics in our reflection journal:
Background (family, education, employment), strengths and weaknesses are (in pharmacy and/or life).
Goals, dream job, etc.
Interests about learning the skills of a pharmacy technician
Reflection Journal: Background & Goals as a Pharmacy Technician
Hello, I’m very excited to get into this program and start my journey in pharmacy. I am the oldest out of 2 siblings, 4 step-siblings and 20 grandkids. Growing up the oldest in the family really puts some stress on setting a good example and that has been one of my biggest goals from day one. I want my siblings to look at my life and the way I am living it and be able to look up to what I am doing. I currently work full time at a commercial real estate company as an office researcher, and I love working there. I also pick up shifts when I can at an assisted living as a CNA. I graduated from Riverton High School in 2015. I took a year break from school to save up and travel a little bit. When I started back to college I started doing my prerequisites for nursing school. During this time I was working as a CNA in an assisted living and later switched to a rehab hospital. Once I started working in a hospital setting I realized nursing wasn’t what I wanted to do but I loved the healthcare so much I kept doing classes, I didn’t realize at the time how many different pathways there are to go in the health field. After I finished my first year of college I was so lost and confused on where I wanted to go in life. I’m the type of person that always has to have everything planned out so when my plan wasn’t going as I thought it was going to I got really discouraged. I reached a really low point in my life, I thought all the time and money I used to start my prerequisites was all wasted, I had no idea what degree I wanted to go for. After a very long time and lots of late night talks with my parents I decided math was the way I wanted to go. The next day I went to the school and met with a counselor to change my degree to Statistics. Math has always been my favorite subject but once I started taking classes towards that degree I realized it wasn’t what I wanted either, I missed the healthcare and I didn’t want a desk job. Finally after a long 2 years I think I found my calling, pharmacy. A job where I can still be in the healthcare but can also get a mix a math at the same time. Before I started this program my goal was to get my tech license and work as a tech to pay for the rest of my schooling to become a pharmacist. After the first couple days of class and discussing all the different pathways a tech can take I don’t know if I want to be a pharmacist anymore, I might just make a career out of being a tech. I really enjoy school so I don’t want to stop my education after I get my license. I will most likely go back and do another program like this that I might be able to use with my pharmacy technician license but I haven’t really figured that out yet. I really love the idea of medicine that it helps heal people but you can’t see it working. As a pharmacy technician I would really love to find a way to still interact with the patients I’m helping but in a different way than I’m used to as a CNA. The skills and knowledge that pharmacy technicians seem to have really impresses me. I can’t wait till I get to the point where I understand medicines, what can and can’t be taken together and what all the medications do.