Pharmacy Technicians the new Healthcare professionals

[kemzero]

Pharmacy techs have now moved from having an occupation to being professionals........is it now time to change the entry requirements......i.e recent advert for training...NO GCSEs required/ 5 GCSEs A-C not needed.

My point of view is that this should be reviewed, if techs are to be taken seriously and on an equal par with other healthcare professionals......just a thought.....the message this is sending is..trust me I'm a professional even though I haven't got a basic education

[admin]

Heck - tough talk, but you have a point.

Do other technicians eg radiographer's tecs have professional status - just wondering here.

What about the nurse debate - are all nurses professionals - many have little education compared to other professionals?

Who decides who is a professional? Footballers are called professionals and many have no education.

I'm not sure what the criteria really is - apart from the dictionary definition.

[ferretmanabu]

Are they officially professionals now then? Where's it say that?

[dizzyb23]

Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Techs are professionals...................

[Fleegle]

If Wayne Rooney (the uneducated shrek-alike, freckly, shell-suit-wearing, fag-smoking chav-boy from Manchester) is considered to be "professional", then what chance do we have?? Remember Paul Gascoigne...born 27/5/67 Dunston, Gateshead, England...profession?...Complete tosser.

Everyone likes to call themselves "professional" these days...it's a bloody joke.

[Jen the 3rd]

Professional can mean "employed" like when you are looking for a flat to rent; or it can mean fulfilling certain criteria, one of which is that the training is extensive, i.e. degree, and that there is monopoly of practice, well a tech doesnt have this yet.

However, there are fitting some criteria more than they used to, e.g. the CPD is much more organised, they can register, and they can become accredited checkers, which in hospital allows them to become dispensary managers whilst the pharmacists do something entirely different on the wards, which to me suggests that they are gaining monopoly. However, it has to be acknowledged that some techs are more "professional" than others and that like the words wicked, special and gay, the meanings keep changing.

[Part Timer]

If Wayne Rooney (the uneducated shrek-alike, freckly, shell-suit-wearing, fag-smoking chav-boy from Manchester)

OI!!! He's from Liverpool!

[dizzyb23]

I like to think someone is a "professional" when that someone takes their role seriously, works hard, cares about what they do and is good at what they do. Maybe there is also a career qualification to go with it but a piece of paper with the words DEGREE on it does not make someone a professional. I used to believe that it did when I was a kid, but my extensive work and life experience has shown me this is far from the truth. I have seen hundreds of examples of this over the years.

[Rafael]

'a career qualification to go with it but a piece of paper with the words DEGREE on it does not make someone a professional'


when you go to uni for 4 years to get this 'piece of paper', you will understand that you are taught to be a professional by all means!

[paul2008]

'a career qualification to go with it but a piece of paper with the words DEGREE on it does not make someone a professional'


when you go to uni for 4 years to get this 'piece of paper', you will understand that you are taught to be a professional by all means!

How long is the Btec. In some places they won't let you work as a tech without a Btec in addition to a NVQ. This I believe is the way it should be. In many countries to be a pharm tech you need to get a diploma before you start on the job training. Some of these pharmacy tech are professionals as much anyone else with a degree and on the job training. If as Raol says you can be taught to be a professional in 4 or 5 years. By the way are the older pharmacists here less professional because they only went to uni for three or less years?

What has how long uni got to do with it?
.