Pharmacy Technician Diploma

At Bow Valley College’s downtown Calgary campus, students study full-time and complete two months of practicum in hospital and community pharmacies to obtain a Pharmacy Technician Diploma.

The program has Full Accreditation Status with the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP), preparing graduates for the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada’s national certification exam. Pharmacy technicians are regulated under the Health Professions Act and register with the Alberta College of Pharmacy.

Registered Pharmacy Technicians have an expanded scope of practice that includes responsibilities such as performing final checks on prescriptions and receiving verbal orders from prescribers. Other tasks include compounding mixtures, dispensing medications, or preparing sterile products such as eye drop compounds or intravenous mixtures.

With over 350 lab hours in a state-of-the-art facility, this program integrates cutting-edge technology and emphasizes hands-on training to produce competitive dispensary-ready graduates. Students learn to prepare sterile products in authentic certified sterile production hoods and operate a PACMED® high-speed automated medication packager.