Appalachian College of Pharmacy, Food City to offer new technician program
ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) — The Appalachian College of Pharmacy (ACP) and Food City are partnering to establish a new online Certified Pharmacy Technician program.
The program hopes to ease the shortage of accredited programs in the area and train the needed workforce.
“There is a significant demand for educated pharmacy techs and recently, due to changes in the regulations nationwide, a lot of the schools that have offered this program have ceased to offer it,” Appalachian College of Pharmacy President Mickey McGlothlin said. “So to assure that we have a supply of people that are qualified to work in pharmacies, we need new educational programs to try to educate the workforce for today’s and tomorrow’s pharmacies.”
Food City is investing in the initial costs and start-up of the program, ACP said in a release. It will also provide the clinical experience rotations to support the college in delivering that portion of the program to students in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.
“Certified technicians are so important to the operation of a pharmacy,” Food City President/CEO Steve Smith said. “It allows the pharmacist, which is the most trusted health care professional and also the most accessible, to even be more accessible when you have a full team of certified pharmacy techs in that pharmacy to be able to make sure the operation runs smooth.”
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The Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center will develop a simulation lab that students will utilize.
Five modules that follow the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists textbook will be featured in the program’s curriculum. Students will learn healthcare communications, pharmacy law, standards, drug compounding and more, according to ACP.
The new program will be offered twice yearly in the fall and spring. Students can finish the program within 26 weeks, including six weeks of experiential rotations.
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