They have pharmacy camps now?

I just discovered that not only do you have the choice to study online to be a pharmacy tech, like I did, or go to a local college, that you can actually go to pharmacy camp too!

Now, I don't really know what goes on at Red Raider Pharmacy Camp, which is put on by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy (damn, that's a long ass title) but I like to imagine they are all sitting around a fire singing kumbaya but have changed the words for some of the longest drug names possible. Like this:

Sodiummetadiaminoparadioxyarsenobenzoemethylenesulphoxylate, my Lord, sodiummetadiaminoparadioxyarsenobenzoemethylenesulphoxylate. O Lord, sodiummetadiaminoparadioxyarsenobenzoemethylenesulphoxylate.

Yes, that is a real drug name. No, I don't think I've ever prescribed it. And yes, I did find it on Wikipedia.

Anyway -- I would have loved this camp because it seems like something totally different from the normal. I wonder how it would affect, if at all, the pharmacy technician salary you could get at the end of it?

Any ideas?

UK pharmacy technicians have to pay each year

Starting from today (the 1st of July), being a pharmacy technician in the UK will be a protected title available only to those who are officially registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

This means that if you work as a pharmacy technician in a hospital, community pharmacy in industry or any other setting, you gotta get registered.

They really should do this in the States too. The criteria is pretty simple, but would cut all the poor quality techs currently employed in America.

• You must be a certified tech (which in the UK is an NVQ level 3)
• You must have trained under supervision of a pharmacist
• You must pay registration fees each year

It's only small changes, but this will have a huge impact on their industry. One of my most important factors, apart from job satisfaction, is how much I'm getting paid and this is no doubt going to help those UK techs earn more money.

Those lucky limeys!