Question for Pharmacy Techs

[volatile]

My brother is a pharmacy tech and he's lately been somewhat disillusioned with his job and been pretty unhappy, according to my best friend that works with him. It seems he has an opportunity to become a trainer for trainers that train techs. I asked my friend if this had any increase in pay and it doesn't seem to. What I want to know is, is there room for advancement by going this route? Or is he just taking on more responsibilities that will still lead him to a dead end? I'm still trying to convince him to go to pharmacy school but it seems he is dead set against going to school.

[TTAZ]

I'm an ex-pharmacy tech myself and I totally understnd your brother's disillusionment with the job. I found it to be extremely frustrating because you aren't allowed to help anyone. Seriously. You can't even suggest a steamy shower to someone with gunked up lungs from an upper respiratory infection. You can't refuse to sell someone over-the-counter decongestants even if you know for a fact they have very high blood pressure. You're not even allowed to tell them about the interaction. Every day you see old folks on very fixed incomes come in and try to decide which meds they need more that month because they can't afford them all. I once got in trouble for suggesting a customer look up their medications online through WebMD instead of trying to make sense of the package insert.

There isn't exactly too many places you can go as a tech, I'm sorry to say. There's always the possibility of becoming a teacher at a vocational school if that interests him at all. If I had to go back into pharmacy (not bloody likely since my certification lapsed and I have a hard time remembering my generic names sometimes) I'd go for a compounding pharmacy and make drugs, usually for animals. It was the only part of the externship I did at one of the local hospitals I liked.

Sorry to be such a drag. It's a good job, don't get me wrong, but if your brother wants to stay in the pharmeceutical line of work, and not be a tech, then he does need to go to school to be a pharmacist. It's damn hard work, but it will be at the very least very financially rewarding.