Personality Traits That Make a Good Pharmacy Technician

When starting a new career, it’s normal to wonder if you have the personality traits you need to be successful. If you’ve ever considered a pharmacy technician career path, we’ve identified a few key characteristics that can be a great asset to your new career.

Friendly and Patient
A pharmacy technician’s job requires them to interact with patients, co-workers, and other healthcare professionals on a daily basis. Sooner or later, you will have to deal with disgruntled or sick customers or even co-workers. But no matter how the people around you are acting, it’s important for a pharmacy technician to be friendly and patient at all times. This can help things run more smoothly and diffuse tense situations if a patient is being difficult.

Alert, Observant, and Organized
Pharmacy technicians are responsible for putting customer’s prescriptions in the pharmacy’s data system, packaging and labeling prescriptions, and organizing and monitoring inventory. Pharmacy technicians are expected to alert the pharmacist when medications are running low and new supplies need to be ordered. In order to fulfill these responsibilities, you will need to be alert, observant, and organized. Fortunately, all of these skills are ones that can be mastered with proper attention and practice.

Communication
Good communication skills are essential if you’re pursuing a pharmacy technician career path. Clear communication with patients, physicians, and insurance companies will make your career much easier, ensure you can do your job successfully, and help you maintain patients’ safety. Having clear lines of communication can go a long way toward reducing and correcting inevitable human error—which should always be a goal within a pharmacy because errors can be dangerous to patients.

Tech Savvy
The healthcare industry relies heavily on technology. A pharmacy technician career path will require the ability to work with computers, access data, and use multiple types of software to track storage and supply needs. Make sure you take the time to familiarize yourself with computers in general and practice working with different kinds of software. With a little bit of preparation, this is a skill anyone can master!

A pharmacy technician’s job can be fulfilling and satisfying, but that doesn’t mean it will always be easy. The personality traits we’ve discussed here can make your job a lot easier—and luckily, with practice, dedication, and quality training, anyone can develop these skills and be an excellent pharmacy technician!