Algonquin Careers Academy
Algonquin Careers Academy, founded in 1981, has two campuses located in Ottawa and Mississauga, Ontario. The career institution offers certificates and diplomas in a variety of fields including fitness and health promotion, medical lab assistant, paralegal, and pharmacy technician. Recently the pharmacy technician programs at Algonquin were awarded Provisional Accreditation status by the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs.
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Pharmacy technician studies at Algonquin offers students a diploma program that runs 40 weeks including an eight week co-op placement. Classes are administered during the day and classroom instruction provides students with the skills required to achieve a career in retail pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, long-term care facilities, community pharmacy, or manufacturing pharmacy.
Students are required to complete the pharmacy technician course guide. The guide includes classes such as basic anatomy and physiology where students learn the functions of the human body along with medical terminology, diagnosis, and treatment. Other lecture and laboratory courses include pharmaceuticals fundamentals and the orientation of pharmacy practice. Pharmaceuticals fundamentals gives students an understanding of the basics of prescriptions, the language of dosage forms, drug classification, and interpretation and accuracy importance. Other required courses include computer operations, interpersonal communication, pharmacology and related jurisprudence, pharmaceutical calculations, compounding, and sterile products.
The Algonquin Careers Academy emphasizes job placement and employment success. The pharmacy technician program requires a job skills course be taken before graduation that focuses on resume completion, interviewing techniques, job search strategies, and the importance of lifelong education. After the first 32 weeks of classroom instruction has been completed, students are required to finish up the remaining eight weeks in a clinical environment for hands-on studies. The on-the-job training program allows students to utilize the skills they have learned in the classroom which provides them with confidence in the workplace. Oftentimes this eight-week program opens the door for future employment at the facility.
