Pharmacy Technician Schools in Louisiana

Requirements for Pharmacy Technicians in Louisiana

In order to practice as a pharmacy technician in Louisiana, you must obtain a Louisiana Pharmacy Technician Certificate.  However, before an individual can obtain a Louisiana Pharmacy Technician Certificate, you are required to:

• complete a board approved training program that includes 600 hours of practical experience and
• pass a board-approved examination (PTCB certification exam)

Start Here First – because, before you can begin to participate in a training program and earn the practical experience hours required, you must first obtain a Pharmacy Technician Candidate Registration.

The Pharmacy Technician Candidate Registration is good for up to 18 months and allows you to work in a pharmacy while you are completing the board approved training program and accumulating the required 600 hours of practical experience.  Please note: this registration is only good for 18 months and is NOT renewable.

To receive your pharmacy technician candidate registration, you will need to:

• be at least 18 years old and
• a high school graduate or the equivalent
• submit the Application for Pharmacy Technician Candidate Registration along with a check/money order for $25
• submit a copy of a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers
• submit a copy of your High school diploma, GED certificate, University degree or high school/university transcript
• provide proof of enrollment in a board-approved training program or if you are already PTCB certified, submit your PTCB certificate

Note: applicants who already possess PTCB certification are not required to be enrolled in a board approved training program.  However PTCB certification by itself cannot be used to work as a technician – you still must complete 600 hours of experiential training.

Now that you are registered as a Pharmacy technician candidate, you will need to earn at least 600 hours of practical experience with at least 200 of those hours earned during the structured part of the training program.  All hours earned must be supervised and documented by a pharmacist preceptor. [i]

PTCB Certification is Required in Louisiana

After completing your board approved training program, you will now need to set up a time to take PTCB’s pharmacy technician certification exam.

When you have completed all of the training requirements and have received you PTCB certification, it is now time to apply to the board for your Louisiana Pharmacy Technician Certificate.  You will need to:

• Submit the Application for Pharmacy Technician Certificate with a check/money order for $100
• submit a legible copy of your PTCB certificate
• provide documentation of the 600 hours of practical experience you earned by submitting the Pharmacist Preceptor’s Affidavit(s)
• submit a copy of your certificate of completion from your Board-approved training program (you do not need to provide this proof, if you earned your hours under an 18-month registration and were PTCB certified)

Pharmacy Technician Schools and Training in Louisiana

The Louisiana State Board of Pharmacy maintains a list of over 400-plus retail pharmacies, schools and hospitals that provide board approved pharmacy technician training programs (see the list).  However there are only three pharmacy technician schools in Louisiana on the list that are also accredited by the ASHP.  The three schools are listed below.

Needless to say, with that many board approved pharmacy technician training programs, ASHP accreditation probably doesn’t matter all that much, unless you are planning to become a pharmacist.  Then you might want to consider the Associate of Applied Science degree offered by Bossier Parish Community College.

Bossier Parish Community College
6220 East Texas Street
Bossier City, LA 71111
Phone: 318-678-6215
Program Director: Terri K Mundy, R.Ph. (tmundy@bpcc.edu)
Approximate tuition costs: $2870

BPCC offers both a Pharmacy Technician certificate course and an Associate of Applied Science degree.  Students will complete approximately 400 hours of practical training in at least two different pharmacy settings as part of the program.

Delgado Community College
615 City Park Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70119
Phone: (504) 671-6237
Program Contact: Anne LaVance, B.S., CPhT (alavan@dcc.edu)
Tuition costs: $2904 for 33 credit hours

Students will complete a total of 400 hours of clinical training in both a retail and hospital pharmacy as part of the Pharmacy Technician certificate program.  The program can usually be completed in two semesters with full time attendance.

Louisiana State University at Alexandria
8100 Highway 71 South
Alexandria, LA 71302-9121
Phone: (318) 473-6466
Program Director: Dusty J Nassif, Pharm.D. (dnassif@lsua.edu)
Approximate tuition/fees: $6530 for 40 credit hours
LSU offers a certificate program with a 490 hour externship.

Certificate Renewal and Continuing Education Requirements

All Louisiana Pharmacy Technician Certificate registrations must be renewed annually by June 30.  Submit the renewal application and a $50 check/money order to the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy.

All Louisiana Certified Pharmacy Technicians must also complete ten (10) ACPE or other board approved continuing education hours prior to renewing their certificate (your first renewal is exempt from this requirement).  You can also use the 10 CEUs towards the twenty (20) hours of CE that PTCB certification requires for renewal every 2 years.

Wages for Pharmacy Technicians in Louisiana

Pharmacy technician wages in Louisiana average about $13.25 per hour or $27,600 annually, which is slightly lower the national average of $13.65 hourly or $28,400 per year.  The salary range for Pharmacy technician jobs in Louisiana starts at around $9.91 per hour and reaches a high of $17.73 per hour.

Job Resources for Pharmacy Technicians in Louisiana

Indeed.com is always a good source for locating available Pharmacy technician jobs in Louisiana.  Indeed allows you to set up a free profile as a technician and will send you email alerts when pharmacy technician jobs are posted by local employers in Arizona.

CareerBuilder.com is another similar resource for pharmacy technician job seekers in Louisiana. You can set up a job profile and just like Indeed, Career Builder will send notifications to your inbox when pharmacy tech jobs are posted by employers.  Personally I have found that Indeed sends out more current job postings than Career Builder, but it doesn’t hurt to set up profiles with both.

 

 

 

 

Source for wage information is the Bureau of Labor & Statistics and LA Workforce Commission