Does Pharmacy Tech Count As Patient Care Hours
Do you accept experience as a pharmacy technician? Retail pharmacy technicians are not usually accepted, but there have been occasions when hours earned in a hospital setting have counted. It will depend on how much medical interaction you have with patients. I had 2,000+ hours as a pharmacy technician and only ~250 as a cna when i applied this cycle and have received one acceptance, one waitlist, and 3 interviews. It does count as healthcare experience, but many dont count it as patient care.
As mentioned above, if you were applying to pharmacy programs this is the exact type of healthcare experience they would like to see, but not for medical school. Healthcare experience (hce) is more broad and encompasses experiences that dont necessarily involve directly working with patients. A competitive applicant will have the required 750 hours of patient care experience at the time of application. While pharmacy tech hours can provide valuable experience, they do not typically count as direct patient care hours for pa school admission. As a pharmacy tech, your primary focus is on medication management, not direct patient care. Pharmacist programs do count pharmacy technician experience, but they typically have fewer clinical experience requirements, if any. This guide goes over what counts as clinical experience for med school, pa school, and pharmacy school, how to get experience, and more.
